Department for Transport

High Speed 2 Railway Line: Birmingham Airport

Karen Lumley: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if his Department will estimate the potential effect on the number of flights to be taken from Birmingham Airport as a result of High Speed 2.

Andrew Jones: The Department does not currently have plans to estimate the number of flights to be taken from Birmingham Airport as a result of High Speed 2 and has no existing forecasts of the effect of HS2 at specific airports. HS2 is included in all the Department’s existing capacity constrained airport forecasts as a baseline scheme and this assumption was also adopted by the Airports Commission in their forecasting.

Driving: Licensing

Kwasi Kwarteng: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether routine checks are made on the non-UK driving licences of foreign nationals driving on UK roads when they are stopped or otherwise required to show their licence; and if he will make a statement.

Andrew Jones: Any checks on driving licences, whether domestic or foreign, by the police at the roadside, are only conducted if considered necessary. This is an operational matter for the police who will decide what action to take in response to the given situation.

Taxis: Licensing

Daniel Zeichner: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, in reference to page 11 of the Tourism Action Plan, published in August 2016, whether deregulating an element of private hire vehicle licences will be carried out through primary legislation.

Andrew Jones: The deregulation of private hire vehicles licensing where transportation is an ancillary element of the service provided will require primary legislation.

Taxis: Licensing

Daniel Zeichner: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, in reference to page 11 of the Tourism Action Plan, published in August 2016, what assessment his Department has made of the effect on consumer safety of deregulating an element of private hire vehicle licences for owners of hotels to collect visitors from ports of entry.

Andrew Jones: The Department for Transport is working with other departments including the Home Office and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport to consider how common sense regulation can be introduce where transport is an ancillary element of the service provided. Consumer safety remains the primary concern.

Taxis: Licensing

Daniel Zeichner: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, in reference to page 11 of the Tourism Action Plan, published in August 2016, what discussions he has had with representatives from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport on the plan to deregulate an element of private hire vehicle licences.

Andrew Jones: Neither the Secretary of State nor ministers have held discussion with representatives from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport on this issue at present. Officials at the Department for Transport are working with counterparts from other departments and stakeholders on the deregulation of private hire vehicles where transportation provides an ancillary element of the service provided.

Heathrow Airport: Greenwich and Woolwich

Matthew Pennycook: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment he has made of the effect of noise from flights approaching Heathrow Airport on people living in Greenwich and Woolwich constituency.

Mr John Hayes: As stated in the Government’s 2013 Aviation Policy Framework, the Government expects airports to help local communities understand the noise impacts they are affected by, through monitoring and provision of information. It is the responsibility of the airport to determine what monitoring is appropriate, and to carry out such monitoring. Heathrow publishes a range of noise information on its website. The Government appreciates that noise issues are important to communities and is therefore currently reviewing several aspects of national airspace and noise policies, and will consult on these in due course. My ministerial colleague, Lord Ahmad, the Minister for Aviation and officials at the Department for Transport have been engaging with stakeholders, including representatives of communities around airports, to ensure that any changes to existing policies balance the interests of communities with those of passengers and the industry.

Driving under Influence: Drugs

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the Answer of 26 May 2016 to Question 37602, when in 2017 he plans to publish the contracted researcher's findings on the effect and impact on road safety of the new section 5A offence.

Andrew Jones: The Department expects to publish the research report in spring 2017.

Manchester Airport: Noise

Craig Whittaker: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment he has made of the effect of noise from flights approaching Manchester Airport on people living in Calder Valley constituency.

Mr John Hayes: Manchester Airport publishes a range of noise information on its website which can be accessed at the address below:http://www.manchesterairport.co.uk/community/environment/what-are-we-doing/aircraft-operations/ This also includes a link to the airport’s noise action plan. As well as detailing its current measures to address aircraft noise, section 13 of this document provides an overview of the airport’s current noise monitoring.  As stated in the Government’s 2013 Aviation Policy Framework, the Government expects airports to help local communities understand the noise impacts they are affected by, through the monitoring and provision of information. It is the responsibility of the airport to determine what monitoring is appropriate, and to carry out such monitoring.

Garden Bridge

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 24 October 2016 to Question 48801, whether the remaining £22.5 million committed towards the Garden Bridge cannot be clawed back by his Department should the bridge not be built.

Andrew Jones: If the construction of the Garden Bridge were to be cancelled, the Department’s exposure to the project would be capped at £22.5 million. In such a scenario, the Department would be likely to claw back the unspent part of its original £30 million contribution from Transport for London by reducing a future GLA transport grant payment. The precise amount to be clawed back in this way would be determined after consultation with HM Treasury and the Mayor.

High Speed 2 Railway Line: West Yorkshire

Craig Whittaker: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate his Department has made of the potential economic effect on (a) Calderdale and (b) West Yorkshire of the High Speed 2 rail link.

Andrew Jones: Much of the research on the impacts of HS2 on specific areas of the UK so far has focused on the HS2 station cities such as Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham and London. However, to build an understanding of the potential for HS2 to contribute to balanced economic growth in the UK the HS2 Phase 2 West Midlands to Crewe Economic Case (the version published in January 2016 by HS2 Limited) apportioned the estimated benefits of the project to different regions. The Yorkshire and Humber region was estimated to receive 11% of the benefits of the full HS2 network in 2037. Earlier research published in the HS2 Regional Economic Impacts report (2013) estimated there could be a positive GDP impact for West Yorkshire of around £1bn per year by 2037, equivalent to an increase in total economic output of 1.6%. The report did not include an estimate for Calderdale on its own.

Aviation: Free Movement of Labour

Stewart Malcolm McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent discussions he has had with UK airlines and their staff on maintaining the Posting of Workers Directive in the event of the UK leaving the EU.

Mr John Hayes: The Secretary of State for Transport has discussed a number of issues relating to aviation and the UK’s exit from the EU with industry stakeholders. The Government is considering carefully all the potential implications arising for our aviation industry. Until we leave, EU law will continue to apply to the UK, alongside national rules.

Birmingham Airport

Karen Lumley: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of the effect on the capacity of Birmingham International Airport when examining the question of London airport capacity.

Mr John Hayes: The capacity of Birmingham Airport is taken into account in the Airports Commission’s demand forecasts. The capacities for all modelled airports can be found in Table 3.2 of the Airport Commission’s Strategic Fit: Updated Forecasts report.

Aviation: Egypt

Richard Burden: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions he has had with airlines on Sharm el Sheikh; and if he will make a statement.

Mr John Hayes: The Department for Transport has regular discussions with UK airlines about Sharm el-Sheikh.UK aviation security experts continue to work closely with their Egyptian counterparts on the ground, sharing their expertise in establishing effective security arrangements. We will keep UK airlines informed of progress, and look forward to achieving the return of flights, once we can be assured of there being the necessary secure and sustainable security situation.

Bus Services: Concessions

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he plans to review the situation in England whereby the age of eligibility for an older person's bus pass is linked to the female state pension age; and if he will assess the potential merits of bringing such eligibility in line with the rest of the UK.

Andrew Jones: The Government has no current plans to review the age of eligibility for an older person’s concessionary bus pass. The age of eligibility for concessionary travel in England is rising in line with the state pension age changes. Equalising the age difference between men and women and increasing the age of entitlement to a concessionary travel pass will remove the anomalous position of non-disabled, working-age citizens receiving free bus passes, which in turn will help the financial sustainability of the scheme. Concessionary travel is a devolved policy area, so the administrative arrangements in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland differ from those in England. Those differences, including age eligibility, were decided by and are funded by the devolved Governments in Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast.

Railways: Noise

Mr Andrew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what funding his Department makes available to assist with measures to limit noise from rail lines.

Paul Maynard: Although my department does not have specific funding to assist with measures to limit noise from rail lines, Network Rail identifies and mitigates noise impacts as a standard part of its project planning and delivery processes. This includes requiring suppliers to demonstrate that they are designing to minimise the impact of noise and vibration during both construction and operation.

Liquefied Petroleum Gas

Ruth Cadbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of the effect on driver access to LPG pumps of the proposed removal of such pumps from some petrol stations.

Mr John Hayes: It is a commercial decision for fuel suppliers and retailers whether to provide pumps dispensing Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG). The Department has not made an assessment of the current location of LPG pumps which drivers may access. Drivers of LPG vehicles can obtain information on filling stations supplying LPG in their area from fuel retailers or the trade association UKLPG.

Large Goods Vehicles: Lighting

Christian Matheson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he plans to amend the Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1986 to proscribe the use of blue coloured decorative lights on HGV vehicles.

Mr John Hayes: The specification including colour and use of lamps on road vehicles are the subject of The Road Vehicle Lighting Regulations 1989. The Government has no plans to amend the regulations to ban the use of blue coloured decorative lamps on HGV vehicles, as these lamps are already prohibited by the regulations.

Electric Vehicles

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the total electrical output from electrical vehicle chargepoints in the UK in each of the last three years; and if he will make a statement.

Mr John Hayes: According to estimates made by the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy, the amount of electricity used for road transport in the last 3 years for which data is available is: 2013 33 GWh2014 68 GWh2015 97 GWh This is attributed to battery electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles.

Large Goods Vehicles: Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to reduce the level of greenhouse gas emissions from heavy goods vehicles; and if he will make a statement.

Mr John Hayes: The Government has implemented measures to encourage cleaner and more fuel efficient HGVs including increasing rewards for renewable gaseous fuels under the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation, the £11m Low Carbon Truck Trial, a £25m Advanced Biofuels Demonstration Competition, and £24 million funding to enable the freight and logistics sector to trial the very latest in innovative low and zero emission vehicle technologies in fleets. The Department for Transport is making good progress on its review of options to further reduce CO2 emissions from the road freight sector, which we intend to publish shortly. The Government now looking ahead to our emission reduction plan which will set out the steps we will meet our carbon budgets through the 2020s. The Department is also engaged in EU negotiations on heavy duty vehicle CO2 regulations, which will cover the monitoring and reporting of fuel consumption and CO2 emissions from all new HGVs.

Motor Vehicles: Exhaust Emissions

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the number of ultra-low emissions vehicles registered in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement.

Mr John Hayes: In 2015 more ultra low emission vehicles were registered in the UK than in the previous four years combined. The total number of new registrations of ultra low emission vehicles in each year from 2010 to 2015 is published online, and shown in the following table. New registrations of ultra low emission vehicles1 in the UKYear of first registrationNumber of registrations201021,25920112,10120123,34620134,313201415,833201529,9721. 'Ultra low emission vehicles' here includes all vehicles with fully electric powertrains, and cars and vans with tail-pipe emissions below 75 g/km of CO2 (which will overwhelmingly include plug-in hybrid vehicles).2. Figures for 2010 are for Great Britain registrations only. All other years are United Kingdom. Source: Using vehicle registration data from the table veh0130 at the gov.uk https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/all-vehicles-veh01

Roads: Noise

Sir Hugo Swire: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what research his Department has conducted on the effectiveness of noise-reducing road surfaces.

Mr John Hayes: The Road Investment Strategy has a £300m Environmental Fund for tackling 1150 Noise Important Areas by 2020. Highways England has undertaken previous research which led to the use of low noise surfacing that is currently used across the strategic road network. Research is ongoing to evaluate the effectiveness of other noise-reducing surfaces deployed across Europe, as well as investigating potential noise mitigation measures for concrete roads.

Govia Thameslink Railway

Kelvin Hopkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether the Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) franchise agreement that stipulates as to whether it is in default of its franchise agreement for cancellations relates to (a) GTR as a whole, (b) Thameslink, Southern, Gatwick Express and Great Northern individually or (c) is at the discretion of the Secretary of State.

Paul Maynard: GTR’s performance is assessed across the whole franchise. If found in breach or default, it would be at the Secretary of State’s discretion to make a decision on next steps, according to provisions in the franchise agreement.

Govia Thameslink Railway

Kelvin Hopkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the actual level of cancellations was compared to the default threshold cancellation level for the southern section of the Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) franchise, as amended by the GTR remedial plan, for each monthly period since the beginning of 2016.

Paul Maynard: GTR’s benchmarks are based on the entire franchise, not each component business group – we do not have that information to that level of disaggregation.

Govia Thameslink Railway

Kelvin Hopkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the actual number of train cancellations was compared to the default threshold number of train cancellations for the southern section of the Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) franchise as amended by the GTR remedial plan for each monthly period since the beginning of 2016.

Paul Maynard: GTR’s benchmarks are based on the entire franchise, not each component business group – we do not have that information to that level of disaggregation.

Govia Thameslink Railway

Kelvin Hopkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the actual percentage level of cancellations was compared to the default percentage threshold cancellation level for the Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) franchise, as amended by the GTR remedial plan, for each monthly period since the beginning of 2016.

Paul Maynard: The performance benchmarks are calculated as a percentage on a moving annual average basis. This is to ensure that an operator’s performance is measured over the long term and not impacted by short term issues. Therefore a comparison of the number of cancellations for each period against a percentage-based annual benchmark is misleading. We have attached the latest position against the Remedial Plan benchmarks in the table below. Cancellations are in excess of default levels. GTR has submitted a force majeure claim for official and unofficial industrial action undertaken by drivers and conductors on Southern services. The outcome of our assessment of their force majeure claim will determine GTR's performance level. Railway periodPeriod datesActual (%)Default (%)2015/16_P1013 Dec to 09 Jan 20161.802.712015/16_P1110 Jan to 06 Feb 20161.842.702015/16_P1207 Feb to 05 Mar 20161.912.712015/16_P1306 Mar to 31 Mar 20161.952.712016/17_P0101 Apr to 30 Apr 20161.982.732016/17_P0201 May to 28 May 20162.212.732016/17_P0329 May to 25 Jun 20162.842.732016/17_P0426 Jun to 23 Jul 20163.442.752016/17_P0524 Jul to 20 Aug 20164.152.752016/17_P0621 Aug to 17 Sep 20164.752.752016/17_P0718 Sep to 15 Oct 20165.192.69

Govia Thameslink Railway

Kelvin Hopkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the actual number of train cancellations was compared to the default threshold number of train cancellations for the Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) franchise, as amended by the GTR remedial plan, for each monthly period since the beginning of 2016.

Paul Maynard: The performance benchmarks are calculated as a percentage on a moving annual average basis. This is to ensure that an operator’s performance is measured over the long term and not impacted by short term issues. Therefore a comparison of the number of cancellations for each period against a percentage-based annual benchmark is misleading. We have attached the latest position against the Remedial Plan benchmarks in the table below. Cancellations are in excess of default levels. GTR has submitted a force majeure claim for official and unofficial industrial action undertaken by drivers and conductors on Southern services. The outcome of our assessment of their force majeure claim will determine GTR's performance level. Railway periodPeriod datesActual (%)Default (%)2015/16_P1013 Dec to 09 Jan 20161.802.712015/16_P1110 Jan to 06 Feb 20161.842.702015/16_P1207 Feb to 05 Mar 20161.912.712015/16_P1306 Mar to 31 Mar 20161.952.712016/17_P0101 Apr to 30 Apr 20161.982.732016/17_P0201 May to 28 May 20162.212.732016/17_P0329 May to 25 Jun 20162.842.732016/17_P0426 Jun to 23 Jul 20163.442.752016/17_P0524 Jul to 20 Aug 20164.152.752016/17_P0621 Aug to 17 Sep 20164.752.752016/17_P0718 Sep to 15 Oct 20165.192.69

Motor Vehicles: Alternative Fuels

Drew Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking with the Cabinet Office to ensure that public sector fleet operators utilise alternative fuels such as LPG in order to achieve local air quality targets.

Mr John Hayes: Improving air quality is a government wide issue. In addition to engaging at local, national, European and international level to improve air quality, we are also taking action to ensure that Government leads by example on this issue, for instance by supporting reductions in NO2 and other pollutants through the Government’s operations and purchasing power. In line with the National Air Quality Plan for nitrogen dioxide published in December 2015, we are currently updating the Government Buying Standards (GBS) for Transport to ensure that NOx emissions are taken into account in procurement decisions. Taking a technology neutral approach focussing on the emissions outcome, the revised GBS will reward manufacturers who reduce the carbon and NOx emissions of their vehicles. This will send a clear message to the market that it is not only carbon emissions that need to be reduced but also vehicle pollutant emissions.

Model Aircraft: EU law

Mr Christopher Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 14 November 2016 to Question 52128, if the Government will reject any new proposals for further regulation of new Implementing Rules (Prototype) Regulations which are not proportionate to the risk and undermine the activities of modal aircraft clubs.

Mr John Hayes: These rules are still at the proposal stage, and their primary purpose was to obtain feedback from European citizens. The Government is committed to the development of simple and proportionate regulations for unmanned aircraft and the Civil Aviation Authority will work with the European Aviation Safety Agency over the coming months, as part of an ‘expert rulemaking group’ in which the model flying associations are also represented, in order to achieve this.

Department for Communities and Local Government

Housing: Construction

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many additional new homes he estimates will be built as a result of the Home Building Fund in each financial year from 2016-17 to 2019-20.

Gavin Barwell: The Home Building Fund is made up of £1 billion for short term loans and £2 billion for long-term loans.The £2 billion of funding for infrastructure is expected to unlock a pipeline of up to 200,000 homes over the longer term. The £1 billion of funding for short term loans is estimated to support over 20,000 new homes by 2019-20.

Travellers

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps he plans to take to facilitate the submission of applications by local authorities with significant Roma populations to secure (a) European Structural and Investment Funds set aside for the period 2014 to 2020 and (b) Government funding for the support of Roma populations.

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many Gypsy, Traveller and Roma (GTR) people have been beneficiaries of European Structural Funds (ESIF) and European Development Funds (ERDF) programmes supported by 2014 to 2020 ESIF funding in England; and what proportion of ESF and ERDF beneficiaries under 2014 to 2020 ESIF programmes are GTR.

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many programmes aimed at increasing the Roma involvement, including Gypsies and Travellers, in the labour market have been funded under the 2014 to 2020 European Structural Investment Funds programme in England as part of the Building Better Opportunities initiative.

Andrew Percy: Under the 2014 - 20 European Structural and Investment Funds there are no programmes specifically aimed at increasing the Roma, Gypsy and Traveller involvement in the labour market, but the European Social Fund will be capturing the number of Roma, Gypsy and Traveller beneficiaries for the 2014 -20 Programme but the figures are likely to be released in 2017. The European Regional Development Fund does not capture these figures.Roma, Gypsy and Traveller groups and local authorities can seek to access European Structural and Investment Funds through their Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP).

Travellers

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the Institute for Public Research report on Roma communities and Brexit: integrating and empowering Roma communities in the UK, published on 24 October 2016.

Mr Marcus Jones: The Government has noted the conclusions of the report by the Institute for Public Policy Research report on Roma communities. The UK does have a strong legal framework which protects all individuals, including Roma, from racial and other forms of discrimination and hate crime, and will continue to do so after the United Kingdom leaves the European Union.

Death: Weather

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how much his Department has spent to limit excess winter deaths in each of the last five years.

Mr Marcus Jones: The Department for Communities and Local Government has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Council Tax

Mr Christopher Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 14 November 2016 to Question 52130, what criteria the Government applies when considering its approach to council tax equalisation; and whether the Government has issued advice on that subject to local authorities considering proposals for reorganisation.

Mr Marcus Jones: The Department for Communities and Local Government has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Combined Authorities

Mr Christopher Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if the Government will bring forward legislative proposals to enable the establishment of combined authorities which have the power for extending their functions beyond those initially authorised; and if he will make a statement.

Andrew Percy: The Department for Communities and Local Government has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Private Rented Housing: Energy

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many properties there are in the private rented sector in each energy efficiency rating.

Gavin Barwell: Information on the energy efficiency of dwellings is collected through the English Housing Survey. The latest figures (2014) on the number of privately rented properties in each energy efficiency band can be found in AT2.6, published online here: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/501070/2014-15_Section_2_Housing_Stock_tables_and_figures_FINAL.xlsx

Affordable Housing

Mr Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what discussions he has had with the Homes and Communities Agency on funding support for private providers of affordable homes which are not classified as registered providers; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to enable private sector providers of affordable housing which are not housing associations to be permitted to supply shared equity and other non-traditional housing tenures; and if he will make a statement.

Gavin Barwell: The Shared Ownership and Affordable Homes Programme 2016-21 prospectus was published on 13 April and opened up the programme for bids from private sector providers, including those which are not housing associations, for Shared Ownership. Bidding closed in September and the Homes and Communities Agency is currently considering the bids. Allocations to successful bidders will be announced shortly.

Right to Buy Scheme: Housing Associations

Oliver Colvile: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what progress has been made on ensuring that all registered social housing association tenants have the right to buy their own homes since the conclusion of the pilot scheme.

Gavin Barwell: We remain committed to the Voluntary Right to Buy for housing association tenants and the pilot scheme is informing the design of the main scheme. The Government is continuing to work closely with the National Housing Federation and the housing association sector on the implementation of the main scheme and will announce more details in due course.

House of Commons Commission

House of Commons: Living Wage

Diana Johnson: To ask the Rt. hon. Member for Carshalton and Wallington representing the House of Commons Commission, how many staff aged under 25 working on the parliamentary estate are paid below the national living wage.

Diana Johnson: To ask the Rt. hon. Member for Carshalton and Wallington representing the House of Commons Commission, how many staff working on the parliamentary estate are paid below the (a) London living wage and (b) UK living wage.

Tom Brake: The House of Commons is an accredited London Living Wage Employer. In order to obtain our licence the House had to satisfy the Living Wage Foundation that no directly employed or contracted workers engaged on the Parliamentary estate are paid less than the London Living Wage (LLW). We can confirm that to our knowledge no contractor working on the Parliamentary Estate is being paid less than the London Living Wage (LLW).It is a requirement in our contracts that contractors and sub-contractors’ employees working on the Parliamentary Estate are paid at least the London Living Wage. Additionally, for House of Commons contracts and where the Lords and Commons contract together jointly, contractors and subcontractors which provide services in relation to our contracts, while not having a presence on Parliamentary premises, are required to pay staff working directly on our contracts at least the London Living Wage or the UK Living Wage if based outside London.On the 31st October 2016 the Citizens UK (CUK) announced that the London Living Wage will rise from £9.40 to £9.75 per hour. Accredited London Living Wage employers have until 1st May 2017 to increase hourly rates. In line with previous years the House will implement the increase for directly employed staff with effect from 1st December 2016.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

BBC Monitoring

Dr Julian Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the effect on national security of the (a) proposed reductions in the (i) staff and (ii) budget of BBC Monitoring and (b) the closure of Caversham Park.

Sir Alan Duncan: An error has been identified in the written answer given on 16 November 2016.The correct answer should have been:

The Core Services from BBC Monitoring will be defined and set down in the new Monitoring Agreement that will run from 2017 to 2028. 2018. This agreement will be an improvement on the existing [2013-2016] scheme, as it will be better focussed, reflect changes in the nature of open source information and have improved performance monitoring and strategic prioritisation mechanisms to ensure BBCM outputs remain topical, reflective of new media and focused on customer needs. We are confident that the changes to the services which will result from this new agreement will benefit the national security community.

Sir Alan Duncan: The Core Services from BBC Monitoring will be defined and set down in the new Monitoring Agreement that will run from 2017 to 2028. 2018. This agreement will be an improvement on the existing [2013-2016] scheme, as it will be better focussed, reflect changes in the nature of open source information and have improved performance monitoring and strategic prioritisation mechanisms to ensure BBCM outputs remain topical, reflective of new media and focused on customer needs. We are confident that the changes to the services which will result from this new agreement will benefit the national security community.

Israel: Palestinians

Liam Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with the US administration on a UN Security Council resolution on the Israel-Palestine conflict.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: ​The UK Government is in regular contact with the US on a range of Middle East matters, including the Middle East Peace Process. We expect to continue this engagement with the incoming US administration.

Uzbekistan: Press Freedom

Stephen Gethins: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent reports he has received on the freedom of the press in Uzbekistan.

Sir Alan Duncan: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has noted a recent Freedom House report on press freedom in Uzbekistan, and the 10 October statement by the OSCE Representative for Freedom of the Media. Our own concerns are detailed in regular updates to “Human Rights and Democracy: The 2015 Foreign and Commonwealth Report”.

Uzbekistan: Human Rights

Stephen Gethins: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the human rights situation in Uzbekistan.

Sir Alan Duncan: Uzbekistan is a Human Rights Priority Country for the FCO. The section on Uzbekistan in:“Human Rights and Democracy: The 2015 Foreign and Commonwealth Report” details our concerns.Last month the Uzbek authorities signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the United Nations on implementing Uzbekistan’s National Human Rights Action Plan. We welcome this and also the interim President’s decree of 21 October, which includes measures to strengthen the independence of the judiciary, strengthen the rights of the accused, and reduce periods of detention without trial.We continue to raise individual human rights cases with the Uzbek authorities, play an active and visible part in human rights activities in , Uzbekistan, and fund projects on governance reform, anti-corruption, torture prevention and strengthening women’s rights.

Turkey: British Nationals Abroad

Martyn Day: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many UK nationals living and working in Turkey have been (a) detained, (b) deported and (c) forced to leave the country following the recent political unrest.

Sir Alan Duncan: We are providing consular assistance to one British national who was detained and subsequently released and who is subject to a travel ban following the attempted coup in July. A further four dual Turkish-British nationals have contacted the Embassy in connection with their travel bans.

Turkey: British Nationals Abroad

Martyn Day: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with the Turkish government on the protection of the rights and freedoms of UK nationals living and working in that country.

Sir Alan Duncan: We regularly raise human rights concerns with Turkish authorities, including issues directly affecting British nationals. The Foreign Secretary, my Rt Hon. Friend, the Member for Uxbridge and South Ruislip (Mr Johnson) most recently spoke about this during his visit to Turkey on 25 September, as did I during my visit in October.

Turkey: Human Rights

Mr David Lammy: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with his Turkish counterpart on reported human rights abuses in Turkey; and if he will make a statement.

Sir Alan Duncan: I raised these issues during my visit to Turkey on 19 October, and again most recently with Turkey’s Minister for Europe, Omer Celik, in a phone call on 7 November. We will continue to monitor the human rights situation in Turkey.

Stephen O'Malley

Mrs Louise Ellman: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 29 June 2016 to Question 41097, what further information he has on the progress being made by the Danish authorities on the re-opened inquest into the death of Stephen O'Malley; and if he will make a statement.

Sir Alan Duncan: The Danish authorities are conducting further enquiries as part of their investigation. We understand that they aim to conclude this by the middle of January 2017. Consular staff remain in contact with the Danish authorities and Mr O’Malley’s family.

Occupied Territories: Housing

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps he is taking to discourage illegal settlements in Palestine.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: ​We will continue to raise our grave concerns about Israeli settlements with the Israeli Government. On 16 November I issued a public statement expressing our deep concern over the land regulation bill in the Israeli Knesset which seeks to ‘legalise’ settlement outposts across the West Bank. Such outposts are currently illegal under both Israeli domestic law and international humanitarian law. Should this proposal go ahead, it would seriously undermine prospects for a two-state solution. We urge the Israeli Government to reconsider the land regulation bill at the earliest opportunity. On 3 November I also issued a public statement condemning the recent announcement by the Israeli authorities to approve permits for constructing 181 new homes in the illegal settlement of Gilo in East Jerusalem. Our Embassy in Tel Aviv have also regularly raised our concerns with the Israeli authorities on the continued expansion of settlements and the retroactive "legalisation" of outposts in the West Bank.

Israel: Detainees

Dr Alasdair McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations he has made to the Israeli government on the overnight detention of Palestinian minors.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: While we have not raised this specific point, I raised the wider issue of Palestinian minors in detention with the Israeli Ambassador to London on 10 November. The treatment of Palestinian children in Israeli military detention remains a human rights priority for the UK. We have expressed our concerns to the Israeli authorities on the use of single hand ties and the need to notify children of their legal rights. Officials from our Embassy in Tel Aviv most recently raised the issue of Palestinian children in detention with the Israeli authorities on 10 October. We remain committed to working with the Israeli authorities to encourage further changes in practice.

Palestinians: Recognition of States

Dr Alasdair McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what criteria the Government uses in order to assess whether the recognition of Palestinian statehood would be conducive to peace in that region.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: The UK will recognise a Palestinian state at a time most helpful to the peace process. We judge that a negotiated end to the occupation is the most effective way for Palestinian aspirations of statehood to be met. We continue to be one of the principal supporters of Palestinian state building efforts, assisting them to tackle poverty, build institutions and boost their economy.

Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting

James Duddridge: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, where he plans to hold the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in the UK in 2018.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: ​The Foreign and Commonwealth Office is working closely with Number 10 and other key stakeholders on where Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting will be held in 2018 and hope to be able to announce a location shortly.

India: Demonstrations

Robert Flello: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the oral contribution of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs of 18 October 2016, Official Report, column 653, what discussions he has had with his counterpart in India on the review of the use of pellet guns and the proposed alternative methods of crowd control.

Alok Sharma: The Government of India's report into alternative methods of crowd control has not been released publicly, so we have not been able to review it or its recommendations.

Kashmir: Armed Forces

Robert Flello: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with his counterpart in India on the use of pellet ammunition by Indian troops in Kashmir.

Alok Sharma: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Andargachew Tsege

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether his Department has requested a copy of the extradition agreement or security agreement from either the Yemeni or Ethiopian governments which was reported to exist between the two countries at the time of Andargachew Tsege's kidnap in 2014.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: ​British Government officials have requested a copy of any agreement relating to the transfer of Mr Tsege from Yemen to Ethiopia, but we have not received this.

Office of UK Permanent Representative to EU: Staff

Conor McGinn: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many people are employed in the UK Permanent Representation to the EU.

Sir Alan Duncan: There are over 120 officials currently employed at the UK’s Permanent Representation to the EU.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office: Staff

Conor McGinn: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many civil servants in his Department have responsibilities which include EU-related matters.

Sir Alan Duncan: Staff in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's (FCO) Europe Directorate lead on providing advice to FCO Ministers on the EU and EU-related issues. However, staff in other Directorates in London, as well as staff in our diplomatic missions around the world, also on occasion work on EU-related issues. Therefore, it is not possible to give precise figures.

Kashmir: Demonstrations

Robert Flello: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what information his Department holds on the number of people (a) killed, (b) blinded and (c) otherwise seriously injured during recent disturbances in Kashmir.

Alok Sharma: ​We do not hold any records of the information requested. I am aware of media reports of injuries occurring in Kashmir. As noted in Foreign & Commonwealth Office travel advice, we currently have limited accessibility to the Kashmir Valley. This makes it challenging to obtain accurate information on the situation there.

Hong Kong: Politics and Government

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether he has met representatives from (a) Hong Kong pro-democracy groups and (b) the Hong Kong Democratic Party since taking office.

Alok Sharma: I have not yet met the Hong Kong SAR Government or members of the Hong Kong Legislative Council. I plan to visit Hong Kong next month, which will be an opportunity to do so. I will also meet UK companies and Hong Kong investors. The British Consul General in Hong Kong meets legislators from across the political spectrum, members of the Hong Kong SAR Government and representatives of the Central People's Government on a regular basis.

Hong Kong Legislative Council

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether he has made representations to his Chinese counterpart on the banning of Yau Wai-ching and Baggio Sixtus Leung from taking office in the Hong Kong Legislative Council by the Chinese government.

Alok Sharma: I have not raised the status of the two legislators with the Chinese Government. A senior FCO official met the Chinese Ambassador to the UK on 8 November to discuss the importance of the Legislative Council to Hong Kong's high degree of autonomy. The British Chargé d'Affaires in Beijing also discussed these issues with the Chinese Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs on 7 November. When I visited China from 14 – 17 August, I discussed with the Chinese Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs the importance of the maintenance of 'One Country, Two Systems'. The British Government will continue to monitor, and to report to the House on the situation in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong Legislative Council

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether he has met his Chinese counterpart to discuss the banning of Yau Wai-ching and Baggio Sixtus Leung from taking office in the Hong Kong Legislative Council by the Chinese government.

Alok Sharma: I have not raised the status of the two legislators with the Chinese Government. A senior FCO official met the Chinese Ambassador to the UK on 8 November to discuss the importance of the Legislative Council to Hong Kong's high degree of autonomy. The British Chargé d'Affaires in Beijing also discussed these issues with the Chinese Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs on 7 November. When I visited China from 14 – 17 August, I discussed with the Chinese Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs the importance of the maintenance of 'One Country, Two Systems'. The British Government will continue to monitor, and to report to the House on the situation in Hong Kong.

Department for International Development

Developing Countries: Renewable Energy

Julian Sturdy: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to increase investment in decentralised renewable energy in developing countries.

James Wharton: I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I provided on 17 November to question number 52717.

Developing Countries: Renewable Energy

Mr Ivan Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to increase provision of decentralised renewable energy in developing countries.

James Wharton: I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I provided on 17 November to question number 52717.

Department for Education

Children: Hearing Impairment

Helen Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the potential cost to the public purse of replacing her Department's funded assistive listening devices, such as radio aids used by deaf children in schools, in the event that such devices suffer from interference as a result of the release of the 2.35 to 2.39 GHz spectrum bands.

Edward Timpson: Under the Equality Act, schools and local authorities are required to provide auxiliary aids when it would be reasonable to do so and if such an aid would alleviate any substantial disadvantage that the pupil faces in comparison to non-disabled pupils. We are protecting the core schools budget in real terms throughout this Parliament, enabling a per pupil protection for the dedicated schools grant, which includes funding for high needs. Local authorities have also received an additional £92.5m high needs funding as part of their dedicated school grant this year, which will help them meet the costs of special educational needs and disability provision in their area. The Office of Communications (OFCOM) is managing the release of the 2.35 to 2.39 GHz spectrum bands. OFCOM have carried out careful tests of listening devices and sought evidence from across the deaf community to ensure these devices will not be affected by future mobile signals.

Department for Education: Pay

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of women are employed by her Department on a London pay structure in the following pay grades (a) Administrative Assistant, (b) Administrative Officer, (c) Executive Officer, (d) Higher Executive Officer, (e) Fast Streamer, (f) Senior Executive Officer, (g) Grade Seven, (h) Grade Six, (i) Senior Civil Service Band 1, (j) Senior Civil Service Band 1A, (k) Senior Civil Service Band 2 and (l) Senior Civil Service Band 3.

Caroline Dinenage: The number of staff employed by the Department for Education (DfE) and the Government Equalities Office (GEO) in the grades listed above are shown in the table below. The table provides information on the total number of women on Civil Service grades in DfE and GEO and the proportion of them that are paid salaries on the London paybands at each grade. DfE has staff working in a number of regional offices across England. These are included in the totals shown in the table, but are not broken down separately.These numbers are based on DfE payroll records and therefore exclude staff joining the department via recent Machinery of Government changes (Higher and Further Education/Skills Funding Agency) as these have yet to transfer onto these systems.  Proportion of all women in the DfE/GEO who are in London paybands at the following gradesGrades1) DfE2) GEOTotal number of women employed (London and National paybands)226435EA AO (equivalent to AO)1%-EO10%6%HEO9%6%SEO7%3%GRADE 711%11%GRADE 66%0%SCS Band 12%6%SCS Band 1A0%-SCS Band 21%3%SCS Band 30%-

Russell Group

Ms Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when she last met representatives of the Russell Group of universities; and what subjects were discussed at that meeting.

Joseph Johnson: Ministers regularly meet with stakeholders, including representatives of the Russell Group, to discuss issues of interest to the sector.

Higher Education: EU Grants and Loans

Ian Murray: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make it her policy to commit to maintaining funding for Scottish and UK higher education institutions from EU sources at or above current levels after the UK leaves the EU.

Joseph Johnson: The Government has confirmed that HM Treasury will underwrite the payment of Horizon 2020 awards, even when projects continue beyond the UK’s exit from the EU. HM Treasury has also guaranteed structural and investment fund projects signed before the UK leaves the EU, as long as they provide strong value for money and are in line with domestic strategic priorities.Decisions on both funding for higher education institutions and access to Erasmus+ following the UK’s exit from the EU will be considered as part of wider discussions about the UK’s relationship with the EU.

Children: Day Care

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many Ofsted-registered childcare providers have been inspected by Ofsted in the last (a) one, (b) two, (c) three and (d) four years.

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many Ofsted-registered childcare providers there were in each year since 2010-11.

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many Ofsted-registered childcare providers were rated (a) outstanding, (b) good, (c) satisfactory and (d) inadequate in each year since 2009-10.

Caroline Dinenage: The quality ratings for childcare providers continue to rise and the latest figures show that 91% of providers on the Early Years Register achieved a “good” or “outstanding” rating as at 31 August 2016 – the highest proportion ever.Ofsted is the non-ministerial government department responsible for the regulation of childcare providers and publishes a regular series of statistics on provider numbers and inspection outcomes on their website, including those specifically requested in this question. These can be viewed from the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/early-years-and-childcare-statistics.

Children: Day Care

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many inspections have been carried out by Ofsted arising from information given to Ofsted by managers of childcare providers in each year since 2010; and how many providers have lost their registration as a result of inspections arising from such information.

Caroline Dinenage: Ofsted is the non-ministerial government department responsible for the regulation of childcare providers in England. Ofsted is responsible for considering and responding to information notified to them by providers and for taking subsequent enforcement action where appropriate. We have informed Ofsted of this question and Her Majesty's Chief Inspector will be writing to the hon. Member in response. A copy of that letter will be placed in the Library of the House.

Pre-school Education

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of children (a) with special education needs, (b) in care and (c) on a child protection plan attend (i) maintained nursery schools, (ii) nursery classes and (iii) private, voluntary and independent early years provision.

Caroline Dinenage: The department does not hold data to be able to fully respond to this question. The number and percentage of 2-, 3- and 4-year-old children benefitting from funded early education broken down by Special Needs provision and type of provision can be found in Table 17LA of the Statistical First Release, Provision for children under five at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/education-provision-children-under-5-years-of-age-january-2016.The number and percentage of 2-, 3- and 4-year-old children benefitting from funded early education by Special Needs provision by type of provider, in England as at January 2016 is set out in the table below: 2-year-oldsTotal childrenChildren with statements or Education, Health and Care plansChildren with SEN support2Total children with SEN Number%Number%Number%ENGLAND166,9109960.64,0882.45,0843.0Maintained settings14,959540.49206.29746.5Private, Voluntary and Independent settings151,9519420.63,1682.14,1102.7 3- and 4-year-oldsTotal childrenChildren with statements or Education, Health and Care plansChildren with SEN support2Total children with SEN Number%Number%Number%ENGLAND1,339,3599,5520.770,3815.379,9336.0Maintained settings773,6397,3270.958,2187.565,5458.5Private, Voluntary and Independent settings565,7202,2250.412,1632.214,3882.5 Source: Early Years Census (EYC), School Census (SC)(1) Count of children aged 2, 3 and 4 at 31 December in the previous calendar year, excluding those at pupil referral units or general hospital schools.(2) From 2015 SEN support replaced School Action and School Action Plus.

Academies: Uniforms

Nic Dakin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department plans to make support available to parents and carers who are required to purchase new school uniform due to academisation; and if she will make a statement.

Nic Dakin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to her Department's report Cost of school uniform 2015, published in June 2015, what steps she is taking to reduce the financial hardship reported by parents and carers as a result of purchasing their child's school uniform; and if she will make a statement.

Nic Dakin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to reduce any financial hardship which parents and carers may face when purchasing school uniforms; and if she will make a statement.

Edward Timpson: It is for a school’s governing body (or the academy trust) to decide what their school uniform should be and how it should be sourced. The Department has issued guidance for all schools on the need to give highest priority to cost considerations when setting their uniform policy. The guidance emphasises the importance of ensuring that uniform is easily available and affordable for all parents. Local authorities and academies have discretion within their budgets to provide school clothing grants or to help with the cost of school clothing in cases of financial hardship. Our guidance states that individual schools may also consider running their own schemes to provide assistance.

Ministry of Justice

Prisons: Drugs

Karen Lumley: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment she has made of the potential effect on the number of cases of possession of legal highs by prisoners of an increase in the number of prison staff.

Dr Phillip Lee: We take a zero tolerance approach to drugs in prisons and have implemented a range of initiatives in response to the use of dangerous psychoactive substances. These initiatives include: mandatory drug testing across the prison estate, introducing legislation so that anyone found in possession of psychoactive substances in prisons can face up to two years in prison, and training over 300 drug detection dogs to specifically detect psychoactive substances. We are also working with the Department of Health and other partners to improve our understanding of the risks NPS present for offenders and to provide appropriate information, guidance and support to offenders and those working with them in prison. The Justice Secretary has been clear that levels of violence in prisons are unacceptable and has announced a major overhaul of the prison system including 2,500 extra frontline prison officers. These extra officers and new safety measures will help us crack down on the toxic cocktail of drugs, drones and mobile phones that are in our prisons. Our measures will create prisons that are places of safety and reform, giving prisoners the education and skills they need to turn their back on crime for good.

Prison Service: Recruitment

Karen Lumley: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to her speech of 3 November 2016, on prison reform, what steps her Department is taking to ensure the new 2,500 prison officers are from diverse backgrounds.

Mr Sam Gyimah: We are determined to attract a diversity of applicants when recruiting to operational and other roles and have put in place a range of measures to increase the potential for this. These include: anonymised selection of candidates for interview, a drive to have diverse interview panels and for all interviewers to undertake training to identify and avoid unconscious bias in the selection of candidates.

Reoffenders

Karen Lumley: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment she has made of the level of reoffending by former prisoners (a) who have had mental health treatments and (b) in general.

Mr Sam Gyimah: We know that people with mental health problems are disproportionately represented in the Criminal Justice System, and these conditions require treatment. In our Prison Safety and Reform White Paper published earlier this month, we set out how we will also work with NHS England, Public Health England and the Welsh Government to improve measurement of mental health outcomes. We are committed to meeting the mental health needs of prisoners. All prisons have procedures in place to identify, manage and support people with mental health issues. Too many prisoners currently go on to reoffend - almost half of all prisoners are reconvicted within a year of release. The cost of reoffending by former prisoners is estimated to be up to £15 billion a year. To tackle this, we are embarking on the most far-reaching prison reforms for a generation. Reforms that will transform how our prisons are run and give prisoners the skills they need to become law-abiding citizens when they are released. General rates of reoffending are available at www.gov.uk.

Companies: Disclosure of Information

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 17 October 2016 to Question 47208, if her Department will ensure that commercial companies do not have access to sensitive information as part of their considerations on how to improve the civil enforcement process.

Sir Oliver Heald: As part of the programme of work to improve the civil enforcement process we will have due regard to data protection responsibilities.

Judges: Security

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many judges have had publicly-funded security improvements made to their homes for personal safety reasons in the last five years.

Sir Oliver Heald: Any threats to the judiciary are taken extremely seriously and significant threats are reported to the police. HMCTS and the police work closely together to ensure that effective risk assessments are undertaken if a judge is at significant risk of harm and proportionate steps are taken to mitigate any risk. The level of threat may result in the Police completing a security risk assessment of the judicial office holder’s home, which will result in the provision of security advice and support.

County Courts: Oldham

Jim McMahon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate her Department has made of the (a) relocation costs, (b) lease surrender costs, (c) legal fees and dilapidations and (d) other costs associated with the planned closure of Oldham County Court.

Sir Oliver Heald: Oldham County Court is scheduled to close between July and September 2017. Work in preparation for this closure is ongoing and accurate estimates will only be available once this is completed. Estimates of lease surrender costs are commercially sensitive for HMCTS and the landlord and would therefore not be published in advance of the surrender of the lease, even where an estimate was held.

Prisoner Escapes

Mr David Hanson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners have (a) escaped and (b) absconded from each prison establishment in each year since 2010.

Dr Phillip Lee: The number of KPI escapes1 and absconds for each prison in England and Wales is published annually on gov.uk. NOTE 1 An escape is deemed to be a KPI escape if (i) the prisoner is at liberty for 15 minutes or more before recapture or (ii) an offence is committed during an escape lasting less than 15 minutes.

Personal Independence Payment: Appeals

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many personal independence payment tribunal decisions the Department for Work and Pensions has appealed in (a) 2015 and (b) 2016 to date; and how many of those appeals found in favour of that Department in each of those time periods.

Dr Phillip Lee: In 2015 the Department for Work and Pensions appealed 20 First-tier Tribunal decisions relating to PIP to the Upper Tribunal, and 11 appeals relating to PIP were found in favour of DWP. In 2016 the Department for Work and Pensions appealed 32 First-tier Tribunal decisions relating to PIP to the Upper Tribunal (January to June, in line with published statistics), and 9 appeals relating to PIP were found in favour in of DWP in the same period.

Magistrates' Courts: Oldham

Jim McMahon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what progress has been made on identifying the future use of the former Oldham Magistrates' Court site and buildings.

Sir Oliver Heald: Work to effect the disposal of the former Oldham Magistrates’ Court building is underway. When disposing of surplus property assets, HM Courts & Tribunals Service will always seek best value for the taxpayer.

Personal Independence Payment: Appeals

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many times the Department for Work and Pensions was represented at personal independence payment appeals tribunals in (a) 2015 and (b) 2016 to date.

Dr Phillip Lee: The Department for Work and Pensions was represented by a Presenting Officer1 at a) 4,428 tribunal hearings deciding appeals against personal independence payment (PIP) decisions in 2015 and b) 2,676 tribunal hearings deciding appeals against PIP decisions in 2016 (January to June, in line with published statistics). 1. The Presenting Officer, a representative of the Department for Work and Pensions.

Pentonville Prison

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average time spent out of cell per day for prisoners in HM Prison Pentonville was in each year since 2010.

Mr Sam Gyimah: The information requested is not held.

Defamation: Damages

Ann Clwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of paying compensation to people who have paid damages in libel cases arising out of the giving of false evidence where they were acting in the public interest.

Dr Phillip Lee: Under the existing system, people who have paid damages in libel cases where it is subsequently found that the evidence on which the judgment of the court was based was false have rights of appeal against the original decision and may also have other rights of action through which they can seek to recover their losses.

Magistrates

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many magistrates were registered in the (a) Yorkshire and the Humber region and (b) UK in each year since 2009-10.

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many magistrates have been registered at (a) Kingston upon Hull Combined Court Centre, (b) the Hull and Holderness Magistrates' Court and Hearing Centre and (c) the Kingston upon Hull Magistrates' Court and Hearing Centre in each year since 2009-10.

Sir Oliver Heald: The table below provides the numbers of magistrates in the specified regions. We have interpreted references to 'region' to mean the relevant local Advisory Committee area. There is no magistrates’ court at the Kingston-upon-Hull Combined Court Centre. The Hull and Holderness Magistrates' Court and Hearing Centre and the Kingston upon Hull Magistrates' Court and Hearing Centre are one and the same. The reduction in the number of magistrates in England and Wales reflects the workload in the adult criminal court, which has fallen significantly over the last decade. Being a magistrate remains a sought after role and competition for vacancies is strong. (Year (at 31 March)HumberNorth & West Yorkshire South  YorkshireHull & Holderness2009/104421,6167101612010/114391,5596971572011/124111,5246321522012/133731,3955771612013/143311,2615061282014/153021,1824431112015/1624098737495 The number of magistrates within the UK is not held centrally.

Offences against Children: Wales

Jonathan Edwards: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if she will make it her policy to financially compensate victims of child sex abuse in North West Wales.

Dr Phillip Lee: I deeply sympathise with anyone who has been a victim of child sexual abuse. The means exist by which victims of child sexual abuse can recover financial compensation. Victims of sexual abuse may pursue a civil claim for damages. I understand that a number of the victims of abuse in North West Wales have done this. Victims of violent crime who have sustained physical or mental injuries, including victims of rape and other sexual abuse, may apply for compensation under the Government funded statutory Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme. Eligibility criteria exist to ensure that the Scheme remains sustainable in order to help the victims most in need, as well as to protect the tax payer. Courts are obliged to consider making a compensation order in all criminal cases where personal injury, loss or damage has resulted. ‘Personal injury’ in this context includes mental injury.

Young Offender Institutions: Crimes of Violence

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps her Department is taking to reduce the level of violence in youth offender institutes in addition to making extra staff available for adult prisons.

Dr Phillip Lee: The welfare of young people in custody is extremely important and the Justice Secretary has been very clear that we need to do more to improve safety and help offenders turn their lives around. We are determined to create a safer, more secure prison estate which better protects everyone from violence and gives young people a chance to turn away from crime. We are currently developing a strategy which aims to improve safety across the youth estate, and we will set out our plans in due course. The youth estate will also benefit from the investments in prison safety and security being taken forward as part of the wider prison reforms.

Prisons: South Yorkshire

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many assaults on prison officers there were in South Yorkshire prisons in each year since 2010.

Dr Phillip Lee: The Safety in Custody statistics, including data on assaults on prison staff, are published quarterly, and establishment level data is updated annually. The latest bulletin was published on 27 October 2016 and can be found on gov.uk. Assaults on prison officers, which are not recorded separately from those on other members of staff, form the majority of such assaults.

Prime Minister

Honours

Sir Alan Meale: To ask the Prime Minister, whether her nomination of people for a peerage takes account of age as well as merit; and if she will make a statement.

Mrs Theresa May: Any appointments would be made in the usual way and would be vetted for propriety by the House of Lords Appointments Commission.

MV Seaman Guard Ohio

Kirsten  Oswald: To ask the Prime Minister, whether she received assurances during her recent visit to India of assistance from the Indian government to secure an early return to the UK for the six men imprisoned following seizure of the Seaman Guard Ohio.

Mrs Theresa May: I raised the case with Prime Minster Modi during my visit to India, making clear the importance of seeing progress. We have now raised it with the Indian government over 40 times at Ministerial level, although we cannot interfere in the legal system of another country.There is an appeal against the verdict and the matter is scheduled to be heard on 21 November.In the meantime, we will continue to focus on the welfare of the six men and providing support to their families.

Prime Minister: Rolls-Royce

Mr Roger Godsiff: To ask the Prime Minister, whether she or officials of 10 Downing Street have met representatives of Rolls Royce since July 2016.

Mrs Theresa May: Details of Ministerial meetings with external organisations and individuals are published quarterly and made available on the gov.uk website.

India: Visas

Stephen Timms: To ask the Prime Minister, whether during her recent visit to India she discussed the cases of Indian nationals who had their visas curtailed following investigations into the Test of English for International Communication operations of Educational Testing Services; and if she will make a statement.

Mrs Theresa May: I discussed a range of issues on my visit to India, and launched a senior UK-India strategic dialogue on home affairs issues to make progress on key issues of mutual concern, including opportunities to make the visa system simpler and more efficient, and steps to improve the integrity of border and immigration systems.

Department for Culture, Media and Sport

Culture, Practices and Ethics of the Press Inquiry

Christian Matheson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the Answer of 14 September 2016 to Question 45329, on the culture, practices and ethics of the Press Inquiry, which cases are referred to in that Answer.

Matt Hancock: All criminal proceedings connected to the subject matter of the Leveson Inquiry, including the relevant appeals processes, have now concluded. The Government is currently consulting on Part 2 of the Leveson Inquiry.

Football: Public Participation

Richard Graham: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how her Department monitors the Football Association's effectiveness in maintaining participation numbers of people playing football; and what account her Department takes of such numbers in future funding decisions.

Tracey Crouch: Sport England use the Active People Survey to monitor participation. In May 2016, Sport England published its new strategy, 'Towards an Active Nation' that sets out how future investment in grassroots sport will be made. It includes an investment guide to all National Governing Bodies (NGB) for the 2017-21 period.Previous track record of delivery against targets in the 2013-2017 funding cycle will be part of that assessment. The NGB investment guide is available on Sport England’s website: https://www.sportengland.org/our-work/national-governing-bodies/investment-guide/

Football: Corruption

Richard Graham: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether the Government plans to undertake any further action to prevent corruption within football.

Tracey Crouch: The integrity of sport is absolutely paramount, and the new UK Sports Governance code published last month - part of our 'Sporting Future' strategy - is clear that we expect the highest standards of governance and transparency from all our sports governing bodies that want to receive public funding in future. Among the requirements is that organisations have strong leadership in place, with the right checks and balances to minimise the likelihood of integrity issues arising.

Television: Advertising

Jeff Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the effect of restricting High in Fat, Salt or Sugar (HFSS) food advertising during all programmes before the 9pm watershed relative to existing restrictions on such advertising on (a) children's exposure to HFSS food and (b) children's obesity rates.

Matt Hancock: The Government recognises the importance of tackling childhood obesity, which is caused by a number of complex factors. The Childhood Obesity Plan for Action, published in August, considered a number of different policy responses to address this problem. Additional advertising restrictions were considered as part of this process, but current restrictions in the UK are amongst the toughest in the world and the plan focuses on those areas which experts tell us are most effective.

BBC: Video on Demand

Dr Alasdair McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will discuss with the BBC Trust what steps it plans to take to support people with visual impairments to register for the BBC iPlayer service ahead of the new registration requirement expected to be introduced in 2017.

Matt Hancock: The BBC published their Diversity Strategy in April of this year. In the White Paper; A BBC for the Future: a broadcaster for distinction, the Government welcomed the proposals set out in the Diversity Strategy. The Government is confident that the BBC will fulfil its remit to serve all audiences and ensure that it will make suitable provisions to ensure that everyone can access their services.

Dormant Assets Commission

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what progress the Dormant Assets Commission has made since it was established in March 2016.

Mr Rob Wilson: The Commission has liaised closely with the financial services sector during the course of its work, to identify potential new dormant assets and the projected size of the funding pot that can be used to support good causes once all attempts to reunite customers with their assets has failed. Its findings and recommendations will be published in due course.

Department for Work and Pensions

Personal Independence Payment

Toby Perkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if the Government will implement the recommendations of the report of July 2016 from the Social Security Advisory Committee on introducing freephone numbers for the personal independent payment enquiry line.

Damian Hinds: The Department’s current telephony numbering policy is that calls to claim benefit should be free, so it uses 0800 telephone numbers for these calls. The Department uses 0345 telephone numbers where customers call for other reasons. These are, typically, calls which take less time to resolve. If a customer raises concern over the cost of the call then we will offer to call them back. At the moment, extending 0800 telephone numbers to other lines, including the Personal Independent Payment enquiry line, would be expensive. That being said, DWP recognises that our numbering policy has been in place for some time and will be conducting a review. The Department will also be considering alternative contact channels for customers to transact with us.

Social Security Benefits

Mr David Lammy: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate his Department has made of the potential effect of reducing the benefit cap to £23,000 in London and £20,000 elsewhere on the (a) health and wellbeing and (b) mental health of people affected by that reduction.

Mr David Lammy: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate his Department has made of the potential effect of reducing the benefit cap to £23,000 in London and £20,000 elsewhere on the (a) health and wellbeing and (b) mental health of children living in households affected by that reduction.

Caroline Nokes: The new cap levels better reflect the circumstances of many hard working families in the country. Around 4 out of 10 households earn less than £20,000 and in Greater London around 4 out of 10 households earn less than £23,000. The Government believes that encouraging households to move into work through the new benefit cap will help to increase the household’s income and help to improve their wellbeing: Research shows that for people without work, re-employment leads to improvement in health and wellbeing, whereas further unemployment leads to deterioration. Research also shows that it is not in the best interests of children to live in workless households. For example, children in households where neither parent is in work are much more likely to have challenging behaviour at age 5 than children in households where both parents are in paid employment.

Social Security Benefits: Disqualification

John Glen: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when his Department plans to report on the pilot of the yellow card scheme for benefit sanctions.

Damian Hinds: We plan to publish an interim report on the Jobseeker’s Allowance Sanctions Early Warning Trial in Scotland by the end of the year, with the final report due to be published around April 2017.

Social Security Benefits: Disqualification

John Glen: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if his Department will take steps to roll out the yellow card scheme for benefit sanctions.

Damian Hinds: A decision on whether to extend the Jobseeker’s Allowance Sanctions Early Warning Trial process in Scotland to England and Wales will be taken next year in light of findings from that trial.

Social Security Benefits: Disqualification

John Glen: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what progress his Department is making on the rollout of the pilot yellow card scheme for benefit sanctions.

Damian Hinds: The Jobseeker’s Allowance Sanctions Early Warning Trial in Scotland ran until September 2016 and involved approximately 6,500 claimants. Data was collected throughout the trial period to assess the extent to which the warning trial affected sanction decisions.Qualitative interviews are currently being undertaken with a sample of these claimants to gain an understanding of how the new process affected claimant behaviour. The trial has now finished and a full evaluation is being undertaken.The interim report will be published at the end of the year and the final report around April 2017. Findings from the trial will inform any decisions on future roll-out.

Social Rented Housing: Housing Benefit

Mr Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate his Department has made of how many properties have been released for letting in Peterborough since the introduction of changes in the spare room subsidy regime; and if he will make a statement.

Caroline Nokes: This information is not gathered by the Department of Work and Pensions.

Social Rented Housing: Housing Benefit

Kevin Brennan: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the cost to the public purse has been of Government legal action in respect of the case brought by the Rutherford family on the spare room subsidy.

Caroline Nokes: The case brought by the Rutherford family was heard with six other cases, therefore separate figures for individual cases are not available. The legal costs (to 9 November 2016) of the Supreme Court proceedings for Rutherford and the other joined cases are £206,841.65.The total legal costs of the High Court proceedings for Rutherford and the Court of Appeal proceedings for “A” and Rutherford are £91,772.28.These figures include VAT where payable (for example on Counsel’s fees) and disbursements but does not include costs attributable to time spent by Government advisory lawyers, as time spent by such advisory lawyers is not recorded in a manner that allows it to be attributable to individual cases.

Industrial Health and Safety

Debbie Abrahams: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what representations he has made to the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy on (a) the link between increased productivity and good safety and health management and (b) that link forming part of the Government's new industrial strategy.

Penny Mordaunt: The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions has made no such representations to the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS). Health and Safety Executive (HSE) officials have liaised with BEIS counterparts about how HSE work can assist the new industrial strategy.

Department for Work and Pensions: Advertising

Stephen Doughty: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much his Department has spent on advertising in each of the last six years in (a) The Sun, (b) The Sunday Times, (c) The Mail on Sunday, (d) The Times, (e) The Sun on Sunday, (f) The Huffington Post, (g) Mail Online, (h) Daily Mail, (i) The Guardian and (j) Trinity Mirror.

Caroline Nokes: This information is not centrally recorded and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

Social Security Benefits: South West

Johnny Mercer: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many appointments for claimants transferring from disability living allowance to personal independence payments have been rearranged or cancelled at the request of a person other than the claimant in (a) Plymouth and (b) the South West in the last 12 months; and of those rearranged appointments how many claimants received (i) one strike and (ii) two strikes as a result.

Penny Mordaunt: The information requested is not collected and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

Ministry of Defence

Ministry of Defence: Aviation

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the cost was of (a) food, (b) alcoholic beverages, (c) non-alcoholic beverages and (d) other items served on each journey taken to date using the RAF senior ministerial transport aircraft; and from which budget those funds are drawn.

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the (a) fuel and (b) crew cost was for each journey taken on the RAF senior ministerial transport aircraft; and from what budgets such funds are drawn since it came into service to date.

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many passengers have been present on each journey taken on the RAF senior ministerial transport aircraft since it came into service to date.

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the (a) origin and, (b) destination and (c) purpose was of each journey taken on the RAF senior ministerial transport aircraft since it came into service to date.

Mike Penning: The cost of catering on each flight is not held in the format requested. All catering costs are billed to the Government department of the principal passenger. The final costs for fuel have yet to be received from all of the overseas handling agents. Fuel and personnel costs for each trip fall to the aircraft Squadron and RAF Air Command personnel budgets respectively. There is no additional crew cost as the personnel would be paid no matter what task they were carrying out. The number of passengers provided includes the support crew on each journey. The available information for each journey is provided in the table below: OriginDestinationPurposeNumber of PassengersCrew Costs £000OutboundInboundRAF Brize NortonWarsawNATO Summit756013RAF Brize NortonHangzhou, ChinaG20 Summit596928RAF Brize NortonNew YorkUN General Assembly646636RAF Brize NortonTel AvivState funeral of Shimon Peres592513RAF Brize NortonNew Delhi and BangaloreUK Trade delegation91 and 9584 and -* *As the UK Trade delegation trip to India only concluded on 9 November it is too early to estimate the costs.

Military Bases: Glencorse

Owen Thompson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much has been spent renovating and upgrading the Glencorse Barracks in the last 15 years.

Mark Lancaster: Figures are only held from Financial Year (FY) 2007-08 for project expenditure and from FY 2011-12 for Hard Facilities management. Information before these dates is not held in the format requested due to a change in the contracting for these services.In FY 2007-08 £370,000 was spent on the Glencorse Medical Screening Facility and since FY 2011-12 we have spent circa £1.5 million on minor maintain and sustain activities to maintain minimum standards.The Ministry of Defence plans to retain Glencorse until 2032.

Rolls-Royce

Mr Roger Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether Ministers or officials of his Department have held discussions on the Serious Fraud Office's investigation into Rolls Royce at any meeting with representatives of Rolls Royce since 2012.

Harriett Baldwin: Ministry of Defence (MOD) officials and Ministers hold regular meetings with defence contractors, including Rolls-Royce, to discuss a variety of subjects. The Serious Fraud Office investigation is not related to Rolls-Royce business with the MOD, and available records indicate that no meetings have specifically been called in relation to the investigation. However, the subject has been discussed during our routine engagement with the company.

Military Bases: Chester

Christian Matheson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many residential properties there are on the Dale barracks site in Chester; and how many such properties are (a) occupied by servicemen, servicewomen or service families, (b) unoccupied and (c) privately owned.

Mark Lancaster: There are no Service Family Accommodation properties on Dale Barracks. Those which support the Barracks are all outside the wire.There are 564 Single Living Accommodation bed spaces of which 402 are occupied and 162 are unoccupied. These unoccupied rooms are routinely used for people attending courses at Dale Barracks.

Type 45 Destroyers

Toby Perkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment his Department has made of the (a) effectiveness and (b) cost efficiency of the system for repair of defects on the UK's Type 45 destroyers; and if he will make a statement.

Harriett Baldwin: Type 45 Destroyers are supported by an In Service Support Contract between the Ministry of Defence and BAE Systems, delivering a range of support activity which includes defect rectification. Type 45 defect rectification activity is predominately supported by specific Contracts For Availability with the Original Equipment Manufacturers. These contracts include specific incentives to ensure effective and cost efficient defect rectification, and they are assessed against performance and cost on a regular basis.

Russia: Territorial Waters

Toby Perkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether it is his policy that Royal Navy warships should always escort ships of the Russian Navy when they are within UK waters.

Mike Penning: All NATO Allies have a collective responsibility to monitor the path and activity of non-NATO ships passing through NATO areas of responsibility. The UK fully upholds its commitments in this regard and will act accordingly.

Veterans: Employment

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to support BAME veterans into employment.

Mark Lancaster: The Career Transition Partnership (CTP) is the official Ministry of Defence (MOD) provider of resettlement services to members of the Armed Forces.All Service leavers bring significant transferable skills to the job market along with a proven ability to learn new skills and concepts quickly. They frequently display an unrivalled approach to team working and leadership along with flexibility, respect for procedures, integrity, loyalty and an ability to adapt to new environments; in many cases this is backed up by skills and qualifications accredited against national standards. The CTP contract provides employers with unique access to the Service leaver talent pool. Employers can upload job opportunities to RightJob via the CTP website which receives over 50,000 unique hits per month, and promotes employment opportunities through regular e-bulletins sent to over 20,000 active clients. Through the resettlement contract, the CTP can link employers with the best Service leaver candidates for their vacancies. The CTP offers a high quality, no-cost recruitment service for organisations looking to recruit highly motivated, skilled and experienced Service leavers.The MOD and the CTP strive to further improve the employment prospects of BAME Service leavers and to work with other government departments to help overcome potential societal barriers which may be experienced by some.The BAME employment rates of Service leavers who have used the CTP at 68 per cent is 5.2 percentage points higher than the general UK BAME population. This demonstrates that serving in the Armed Forces enhances the employment prospects of BAME Service leavers when they choose to enter the employment market at the end of their military career.

Military Bases: Brecon

Chris Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of closing the barracks at Brecon before the assessment which led to the decision announced on 7 November 2016 during the last 10 years.

Mark Lancaster: "A Better Defence Estate" is a military led review that has been under formulation since the 2015 Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR). The strategy has been has been developed with military advice from the Front Line Commands to enable infrastructure that is affordable and optimised to support capabilities, outputs and communities both now and in the future. There has been no previous assessment of Brecon Barracks.

Armed Forces: Housing

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to his Department's report, a Better Defence Estate, published in November 2016, how the figure of £140 million running costs saving over 10 years, rising to nearly £3 billion in total to 2040 was calculated.

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to his Department's report, a Better Defence Estate, published November 2016, how the £140 million running costs saving over 10 years was calculated.

Mark Lancaster: The Ministry of Defence (MOD) has gathered financial data on the running costs of each site intended for disposal under "A Better Defence Estate", including Hard Facilities Management, Soft Facilities Management, rates and utilities. The savings are calculated from the difference between the disposal sites' and receiver sites' running costs. The savings have then been forecast based on the implementation plan's disposal date for each site. The projected running cost savings also take into account potential Private Finance Initiative unitary charges. The MOD will continue to refine its assessments of savings throughout implementation of an update to parliament each year.

Armed Forces: Housing

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the National Audit Office report, Delivering the defence estate, published 15 November 2016, page 8, paragraph 17, what key performance indicators are in place to measure the Defence Infrastructure Organisation's performance; and how many key performance indicators in this area are not set in place.

Mark Lancaster: Currently there are 41 Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) in place which measure the Defence Infrastructure Organisation's (DIO)’s performance. These are:Skilled Staff - Supporting OperationsOperations Advice - Customer SatisfactionUrgent Estate Requirements (as a result of Urgent Operational Requirements) achievedDefence Training Estate and Facilities - Requirements deliveredUK - Defence Training Estate and Facilities - Training Customer SatisfactionOverseas - Defence Training Estate and Facilities - Training Customer SatisfactionUK - Hard Facilities Management (FM) - Statutory ComplianceOverseas - Hard FM - Statutory ComplianceUK - Hard FM - Customer SatisfactionOverseas - Hard FM - Customer SatisfactionSoft FM - Availability of Catering, Retail and Leisure servicesSoft FM - Customer SatisfactionUK - Accommodation - Service Families Accommodation (SFA) conditionOverseas - Accommodation - SFA conditionUK - Accommodation - UK SFA delivery of upgrade planOverseas - Accommodation - SFA delivery of upgrade planUK - Accommodation - Vacant propertiesOverseas - Accommodation - Overseas Vacant propertiesUK - Accommodation - Maintenance Response ratesOverseas - Accommodation - Maintenance Response ratesUK - Accommodation - Customer SatisfactionOverseas - Accommodation - Customer SatisfactionProjects - Value for Money against benchmarksProjects - Completed to TimeProjects - Completed to CostProjects - User acceptance criteria metReduction in construction wasteCompliance with Departmental reportingRisk ManagementHealth & Safety - FatalitiesHealth & Safety - Major Injuries (DIO Staff)Health & Safety - Major Injuries (Contractors)Health & Safety - Crown Improvement NoticesCompletion of Mandatory TrainingNumber of Environmental Warning NoticesExternal Assurance ReviewsDefence Related Environmental Assessment Methodology scoresUtilities - Reduction in energy usageData Protection RequirementsSecurity Requirements - Compliance in relation to MOD policySecurity Requirements - Compliance in relation to property infrastructureThere are two KPIs which are not yet in place. These are:Key Performance IndicatorUK - Hard FM - Asset Condition level above safe and legalOverseas - Hard FM - Asset Condition level above safe and legal The reason for this is DIO does not currently have the condition data across the defence estate to measure these, but is determining a course of action to gather the required data and the Ministry of Defence has adopted a reactive approach to maintenance.

Armed Forces: Housing

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the his Department's report, a Better Defence Estate, published in November 2016, which projects and programmes are projected to be included within his Department's estimate of £4 billion worth of new investment in the estate over the next 10 years.

Mark Lancaster: The £4 billion which is in addition to the Ministry of Defence's current infrastructure investment plans on projects like the QEC and F-35 programmes, will support the delivery of all programmes and projects within the Estate Optimisation Portfolio to deliver the Better Defence Estate Strategy, details of which were published on 7 November 2016.

Armed Forces: Housing

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the average rental price paid by his Department was for Annington Homes-managed properties in each year since 1996.

Mark Lancaster: The average rent per unit of Service Family Accommodation for each full financial year is as follows: Financial Year average rentSince 1996: 1997-1998 £2,026.351998-1999 £2,032.791999-2000 £2,107.792000-2001 £2,383.452001-2002 £2,603.922002-2003 £2,918.802003-2004 £3,023.132004-2005 £3,108.172005-2006 £3,282.082006-2007 £3,449.022007-2008 £3,596.232008-2009 £3,681.392009-2010 £3,743.532010-2011 £3,845.292011-2012 £3,933.242012-2013 £4,033.232013-2014 £4,083.492014-2015 £4,146.562015-2016 £4,311.78 The Ministry of Defence (MOD) pays Annington 42% of the agreed market rent for its properties. Accommodation charges for our personnel are recommended by the independent Armed Forces Pay Review Body and will continue to be subsidised by the MOD to reflect the unique conditions they face. Overall SFA charges continue to represent very good value for money compared to the civilian rental market with the majority of Other Ranks' accommodation costs being subsidised 51-60% by the public purse and 38% to 48% for Officers. The majority of Service personnel spend on average just 10-25% of their salary on accommodation, which compares to an average of 30% income for social renters and 40% for private renters.

Home Office

Motor Vehicles: Foreign Nationals

Mr Mark Hendrick: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the article, DVLA works with the police and HM Revenue and Customs to crack down on illegal foreign registered vehicles, published on the GOV.UK website on 30 January 2015, how many foreign-registered cars were seized and impounded by each constabulary in England in each month between 1 January 2015 and 30 September 2016.

Brandon Lewis: We do not hold information centrally on the number of illegal foreign registered vehicles seized and impounded in England. This is an operational matter for the police and other partner agencies.

Police

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many police officers in each force area were assigned to response in each year since 2014.

Brandon Lewis: The Home Office collects data annually on the function of police workers. Workers with multiple responsibilities or designations are recorded under their primary function. The data do not therefore provide a complete picture of all officers assigned to response functions.The number of full time equivalent police officers primarily employed in ‘Incident (Response) Management’ roles can be found in the data tables published alongside the annual police workforce statistics publication.Data as at 31 March 2015 and 31 March 2016 can be found in the Table F1 and Table F4 of the police workforce statistics published in July 2016:https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/544954/police-workforce-tabs-jul16.odsData as at 31 March 2014 were collected under a different framework, with different definitions, and are therefore not directly comparable with data as at 31 March 2015 or 2016. Data on the number of officers primarily employed in ‘Response’ roles as at 31 March 2014 can be found in the supplementary tables of the police workforce statistics published in July 2014:https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/330345/police-workforce-supptabs-mar14.odsDecisions on the size and composition of the police workforce are operational matters for Chief Officers working with their Police and Crime Commissioners and taking into account local priorities. What matters is how officers are deployed, not how many of them there are.

Police: Cameras

Karen Lumley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of police body-worn cameras in (a) capturing evidence leading to successful prosecution and (b) preventing unwarranted charges being brought against police officers.

Brandon Lewis: Whilst the Home Office fully supports the police exploiting technology to help cut crime wherever possible, the assessment of the effectiveness of body-worn cameras in a) capturing evidence leading to successful prosecution and (b) preventing unwarranted charges being brought against police officers is an operational consideration for policing.

Police: Cameras

Karen Lumley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of body-worn cameras in preventing harassment and abuse of police officers.

Brandon Lewis: Whilst the Home Office fully supports the police exploiting technology to help cut crime wherever possible, the assessment of the effectiveness of body-worn cameras in preventing harassment and abuse of police officers is an operational consideration for policing.

Members: Correspondence

Rob Marris: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she plans to respond to the letter from the hon. Member for Wolverhampton South West of 23 August 2016, reference ZA3542.

Mr Robert Goodwill: A response to the hon. Member's letter of 23 August 2016 was issued on 16 November 2016.

HM Treasury

Soft Drinks: Taxation

Jim Shannon: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how his Department plans to spend the revenue raised by the soft drinks industry levy.

Jane Ellison: The Treasury is working closely with the Department for Education to deliver the objectives of the levy including investing the revenue on doubling the primary PE and sport premium to £320 million a year.

Treasury: Apprentices

Alex Cunningham: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many apprenticeships have been created in his Department in each region in each of the last five years; and how many of those apprentices subsequently secured a job within the civil service.

Mr David Gauke: The number of apprenticeships to have started in each of the last five years can be found in the following table: Table 1: Number of apprenticeships started Start yearLondonNorwich2012/13Fewer than 5Fewer than 52013/1412Fewer than 52014/1521Fewer than 52015/1621Fewer than 52016/177Fewer than 5 The number of apprentices made permanent in each of the last five years can be found in the following table: Table 2: Number of apprentices made permanent Start yearLondonNorwich2012/13Fewer than 5Fewer than 52013/148Fewer than 52014/155Fewer than 52015/16Fewer than 5Fewer than 5  Tables 1 and 2 are not directly comparable. Apprentices can take around 18 months to complete their training and have the option to go on to pursue further higher level apprenticeship qualifications. Of the apprentices starting in the period since April 2015, 52% are still currently apprentices, 26% have been provided permanent roles within HMT and 22% have left the organisation. Of those leaving the organisation, some of these will not have completed their apprenticeship and some of these will have gone on to other roles within the Civil Service. However, we do not hold full information on how many are currently permanent employees within the civil service.

Welfare Tax Credits

Steve Baker: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will take steps to accelerate the processing of tax credit change of circumstances notifications.

Jane Ellison: There are currently three ways to report a change of circumstance: telephone, paper form or digitally. HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has processed UK tax credit change of circumstances in an average of less than ten days during the current tax year and is meeting all internal targets for dealing with changes. HMRC keeps performance levels under constant review, including opportunities for further improvements in this area.

Concentrix

Louise Haigh: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department has received legal advice on data profiling in relation to the contract between HM Revenue and Customs and Concentrix and the provisions of the Tax Credits Act 2002.

Jane Ellison: HM Revenue and Customs obtained appropriate legal advice in respect of the exchange of information and the use of data analysis prior to the issue of an invitation to tender and at appropriate times through the life of the contract.

Minimum Wage: Yorkshire and the Humber

Diana Johnson: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many notices of underpayment of the national minimum wage HM Revenue and Customs has issued to firms in (a) Kingston upon Hull and (b) Yorkshire and the Humber in each year since 2009-10.

Jane Ellison: The Government is determined that everyone who is entitled to the National Minimum Wage (NMW) and National Living Wage (NLW) receives it. Anyone who feels they have been underpaid NMW or NLW should contact the Acas helpline on 0300 123 1100. HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) reviews all complaints that are referred to them.HMRC does not record statistics on complaints or the outcomes of its investigations by reference to Government regions, constituencies or counties. In 2015-16, HMRC recovered record arrears of almost £10.3m for over 58,000 workers from 958 employers.

Landfill Tax

Jim McMahon: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what his Department's policy is on the landfill levy after the UK leaves the EU.

Jane Ellison: The Government fully supports the environmental argument for minimising waste and increasing more sustainable alternatives to landfill, such as recycling. Landfill Tax has been key in helping to achieve this.

Minimum Wage: Greater Manchester

Jim McMahon: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many employers in Greater Manchester have been found not to have paid employees the national minimum wage.

Jane Ellison: The Government is determined that everyone who is entitled to the National Minimum Wage (NMW) and National Living Wage (NLW) receives it. Anyone who feels they have been underpaid NMW or NLW should contact the Acas helpline on 0300 123 1100. HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) reviews all complaints that are referred to them.HMRC does not record statistics on complaints or the outcomes of its investigations by reference to Government regions, constituencies or counties. In 2015-16, HMRC recovered record arrears of almost £10.3m for over 58,000 workers from 958 employers.

Holocaust Victim Compensation Fund

Diana Johnson: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what progress has been made in reviewing how holocaust restitution payments by the government of the Netherlands are disregarded for UK tax and benefit purposes.

Jane Ellison: Payments made by the Netherlands Government to victims of persecution in Europe or Asia during the Second World War were made exempt from income tax in Finance Act 2015.The Government is considering how best to take account of these payments for a number of income related social security benefits administered by the Department for Work and Pensions.

Multinational Companies: Tax Avoidance

Caroline Flint: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the European Commission's proposals for Eurozone public country-by-country reporting for tackling multi-national tax avoidance.

Jane Ellison: The Government has set out its objective for a comprehensive and effective model of public country-by country reporting that is agreed on a multilateral basis.The UK continues to play an active role in the discussions on the European Commission proposal with a view to delivering on that objective.

Mortgages: Affordable Housing

Mr Stewart Jackson: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to encourage mortgage providers to develop financial products which support shared equity affordable housing; and if he will make a statement.

Mr David Gauke: The Government is committed to addressing the affordability of housing and making the aspiration of home ownership a reality for as many households as possible. Alongside this the Government is committed to increasing competition in banking and creating an environment in which firms compete to offer a range of products that suit the varying needs of their customers. Government also runs the Help to Buy: Equity loan through which Government lends up to 20% (40% in London) of the cost of a newly built home with buyers only needing a 5% cash deposit and a 75% mortgage to make up the rest. The loan is repaid when the property is sold, or after 25 years (whichever is sooner), with the amount repayable calculated as 20% of the value of the property at the point the loan is repaid (or 40% in London). There is also an annual fee payable on the loan after 5 years. Since Help to Buy: equity loan launched it has helped over 90,000 households buy a home, supporting first-time buyers in all parts of the country with 81% of purchases made through the scheme made by first time buyers. In October 2016 the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) released a report which highlighted that 15-20 firms are currently lending on shared ownership.

Welfare Tax Credits

Ms Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will publish details of the guidance given to HM Revenue and Customs staff on the offer of hardship payments to people who have had tax credit payments stopped in the last four months.

Ms Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what plans his Department has to review all tax credit cases taken back in-house from Concentrix to ensure that policy and procedures have been correctly applied.

Ms Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what proportion of mandatory reconsiderations of cases taken back by HM Revenue and Customs from Concentrix in the last three months have been upheld.

Ms Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the average time taken by HM Revenue and Customs staff was to process mandatory reconsiderations requested in relation to tax credit decisions from the point of the request to the final decision in the last three months.

Jane Ellison: As part of the normal tax credits process HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is reviewing cases where a claimant has made a request for a mandatory reconsideration in light of decisions made by Concentrix.HMRC received 32,358 mandatory reconsiderations from Concentrix from 14th September 2016 to 15th November 2016. Ordinarily, the vast majority of mandatory reconsiderations are upheld in the claimant’s favour because new information has come to light during the mandatory reconsideration process. This includes cases where the additional information requested was not originally provided. Of the mandatory reconsiderations processed from Concentrix, 26,990 have been closed with 24,219 (89.7%) of these being upheld in the claimant’s favour. 2,475 of the original 32,358 were wrongly classified as mandatory reconsiderations. The average time taken by HMRC to process mandatory reconsiderations related to tax credits decisions from the point of the request to the final decision between 1st August 2016 and 31st October 2016 was 35.13 days. This includes the time taken to receive any additional information which was not originally provided. HMRC will consider whether a hardship payment is appropriate where one is requested dependent on the circumstances of the specific case. As announced on 7th October, the National Audit Office will be conducting an investigation into HMRC’s contract with Concentrix.

Railways: Scotland

Drew Hendry: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the funding formula implications for Scotland are of the £2.1 billion increase in the estimated cost of the modernisation of the Great Western railway network in England and Wales.

Mr David Gauke: There are no funding formula implications for Scotland due to changes in the estimated cost of the modernisation of the Great Western railway network in England and Wales. Additional government funding has not been made available. The Barnett formula is only applicable to changes in the departmental expenditure limits of UK Government Departments.

Cabinet Office

Cabinet Office: Vellum

Paul Flynn: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how much the Cabinet Office has spent on purchasing vellum in each of the last five years.

Ben Gummer: The Cabinet Office does not fund the purchase of vellum.

Electoral Fraud Review

Mr Charles Walker: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, when the Government plans to publish its response to the report by the right hon. Sir Eric Pickles on his review into electoral fraud.

Chris Skidmore: The Government is committed to tackling fraud and making our electoral process more secure. We have welcomed Sir Eric Pickles’ report on his review into electoral fraud, and we are giving careful consideration to the findings and recommendations that the report sets out. We will publish our response in due course.

Cabinet Office: Advertising

Stephen Doughty: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how much the Government has spent on advertising in (a) The Times, (b) The Sunday Times, (c) The Mail on Sunday, (d) The Sun, (e) The Sun on Sunday, (f) The Huffington Post, (g) Mail Online, (h) Daily Mail, (i) The Guardian and (j) Trinity Mirror newspapers in each Department in the last six years.

Ben Gummer: The Cabinet Office has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

House of Lords Appointments Commission

Paul Flynn: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the cost of funding the House of Lords Appointments Commission has been in each year since 2010.

Paul Flynn: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the cost of appointing peers to the House of Lords has been for the period between May 2010 and November 2016.

Ben Gummer: The House of Lords Appointments Commission (HoLAC) makes recommendations for the appointment of non-party-political members and vets for propriety other nominations to the House of Lords. HoLAC's costs are set out in its annual reports which are available on their website.

Department for International Trade

Airbus SAS: Export Credit Guarantees

Mr Roger Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, on what date UK Export Finance started a temporary freeze of Airbus export credit cover; and whether that freeze is still in place.

Greg Hands: UK Export Finance has not supported any new deliveries of Airbus aircraft since January 2016.UK Export Finance is working with Airbus and the French and German export credit agencies to understand and seek assurances around Airbus's practices with regard to overseas agents. In the meantime UK Export Finance remains open to applications from any UK exporter, including Airbus, subject to conducting appropriate due diligence on compliance issues.

West Bank: Overseas Trade

Ruth Cadbury: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, whether public bodies are covered by the advice on the UK Trade and Investment website not to trade with illegal settlements in the West Bank.

Mark Garnier: I refer the hon Member for Brentford and Isleworth to the answer I gave to the hon Member for East Ham today, UIN 53031.

Overseas Trade: West Bank

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, whether public bodies are covered by the advice on the UK Trade and Investment website not to trade with illegal settlements in the West Bank.

Mark Garnier: The advice provided on the Department for International Trade’s website applies to businesses and does not cover public bodies. The Government's position is clear that it is up to individual businesses whether they undertake business dealings with companies involved in the illegal settlements. The Government neither supports nor encourages such dealings, and the Foreign & Commonwealth Office has provided advice to businesses online on the risks of so doing and advises that they seek their own legal advice. Public Bodies are subject to the Government Procurement Policy issued by the Cabinet Office and Crown Commercial Service.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

National Parks: Gun Sports

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many and what proportion  of National Parks allow shooting sports.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: National Park authorities have no powers to allow or disallow shooting sports. It is for landowners to determine whether such activities take place on their own land.

Animal Welfare: EU Grants and Loans

Jim Fitzpatrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much has been grated to farmers in respect of animal welfare commitments made under Article 33 of Regulation (EU) No. 1305/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council  on support for rural development and previously under Article 40 of Council Regulation (EU) No. 1698/2005 in each of the last four years; what the value was of each grant made under those regulations; and what the animal welfare commitment was in respect of which each such grant was so made.

George Eustice: For the 2014-20 Rural Development Programme for England the Government decided to support animal health and welfare aims under measures other than the specific animal welfare provision in the EU Rural Development Regulation to which the question refers. Therefore no funding has been granted to farmers in respect of these specific animal welfare measures. However, a number of projects under the two programmes have supported animal welfare. These include the North West Livestock Programme and the South West TB advisory service under the 2007-13 programme and grants for supporting lameness detection, rumination monitoring & oestrus detectors under the 2014-20 programme.

Flood Control: Trees

Jim Fitzpatrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the Government plans to conduct further research on the utility of trees in flood prevention.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: The Government continues to fund and support research into the utility of trees in flood prevention through the Defra/Environment Agency ‘Working with Natural Processes’ research programme, and the Forestry Commission’s Science and Innovation Strategy. Forest Research, the Forestry Commission’s Research Agency, is conducting a number of medium and long-term projects on this topic, often in partnership with water regulators, universities and end users. These cover process, modelling, economic and mapping studies designed to quantify and demonstrate how woodland can contribute to flood risk management. Operational synthesis of existing research is currently being used as the basis for designing and targeting forestry’s contribution to help protect ‘communities at risk’ under the Cumbria Floods Action Plan. One flagship project led by Forest Research is the ‘Slowing the Flow’ at Pickering study. This is evaluating how the integrated application of a range of land use and management measures can alleviate flooding, including woodland creation and the use of large woody structures. Other studies are underway in the catchments of the River Parrett in Somerset, River Irthing in Northumberland and River Usk in Wales, to provide evidence of how woodland and woodland management can affect flood risk.

Agriculture: Trees

Jim Fitzpatrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the Government plans to conduct further research on the value of trees to farm productivity.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: Defra has conducted a review into the evidence base for agroforestry and how the agroforestry measure could operate within the Rural Development Programme. The review is being finalised and will be published shortly.

Animal Welfare: Northern Ireland

Ms Margaret Ritchie: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the deterrent effect that increased maximum sentences for cruelty against animals have had in Northern Ireland; and whether she has made an assessment of the implications of those effects for her Department's policies.

George Eustice: The increase in the maximum sentences only came into effect on 1 August 2016. No such assessments have therefore been made.

Diesel Engines: Nitrogen Oxides

Nic Dakin: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the timetable is for publication of her Department's proposed consultation on Proposals to regulate generators with high NOx emissions; and if she will make a statement.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: The consultation on reducing emissions from Medium Combustion Plants and Generators to improve air quality was published on 16 November this year and runs for 12 weeks. The proposals can be found on the GOV.UK web pages.

Livestock: Transport

Mr Mark Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many inspections Trading Standards has undertaken of animals during transit for slaughter abroad in each of the last three years.

George Eustice: Defra does not hold data on local authority Trading Standards inspections of animals during transit for slaughter abroad. APHA carry out supervised loadings on export consignments of live animals for slaughter.

Bovine Tuberculosis

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many new incidents of bovine TB there have been in each month in each of the last five years; and if she will make a statement.

George Eustice: National Statistics on bovine TB, which include new herd incidents, are published monthly on gov.uk and can be found at: www.gov.uk/government/statistics/incidence-of-tuberculosis-tb-in-cattle-in-great-britain.

Agriculture: Fertilisers

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate she has made of the total application of (a) nitrogen, (b) phosphate, (c) potash and (d) sulphur on farmland across the UK in each of the last five years; and if she will make a statement.

George Eustice: Information on the total application of nitrogen, phosphate, potash and sulphur on farmland across the UK in each of the last five years is not available. However, the average application of those same nutrients on Great British farmland in each of the last five years is collected in the British Survey of Fertiliser Practice. This annual survey collects data on fertiliser and manure use in Great Britain. From these, annual reports are produced on fertiliser use in Great Britain which provide figures dating back to 1983 and in-depth analysis. The latest report from 2015 can be found on the Government’s website at GOV.UK. The table below summarises data from the British Survey of Fertiliser Practice on application rates of nitrogen, phosphate, potash, and sulphur in Great Britain from 2011 to 2015 for all crops and grass combined. Information regarding nutrient application to farmland in Northern Ireland is the responsibility of the Northern Ireland Office. YearNitrogen (kg/ha)Phosphate (kg/ha)Potash (kg/ha)Sulphur (kg/ha)201199192513201295172314201394182513201499182516201598182416

Livestock: Exports

Mr Mark Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many prosecutions there have been for breaches of the animal welfare regulations governing live animal exports in each of the last three years.

George Eustice: Information is available on the number of convictions rather than on the number of prosecutions. In the last three years there have been the following number of convictions for breaches of the regulations protecting animal welfare during transport in England and Wales. Separate figures are not kept for convictions relating to live animal exports. 2015 - 82014 - 152013 – 14

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

Coal Fired Power Stations

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what support he plans to provide to communities where coal-powered power stations are to be phased out.

Jesse Norman: Most of our existing coal stations are old and likely to close on economic grounds well before 2025. Setting an end date for coal is expected to help stimulate new investment into alternative energy sources, create new jobs in construction and operation for the next two decades, and contribute towards delivering a secure, affordable low carbon future. The Government aims to support those directly affected into new employment, including through the Job Centre Plus Rapid Response Force.

Energy: Prices

Dr   Poulter: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what information his Department holds on the number of customers of (a) British Gas, (b) EDF, (c) E.on, (d) Npower, (e) Scottish Power and (f) SSE who have been on that company's standard variable tariff for more than (i) three, (ii) five and (iii) 10 years.

Jesse Norman: The Department does not hold information on the number of customers of energy suppliers who are on a company’s standard variable tariff. It does hold data on the proportion of each of the big six large energy suppliers’ customers who were on standard variable tariff in March 2016. I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I have given today to Question UIN 52275.

Energy: Prices

Dr   Poulter: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what information his Department holds on the proportion of customers of (a) British Gas, (b) EDF, (c) E.on, (d) Npower, (e) Scottish Power and (f) SSE who have been on that company's standard variable tariff for more than (i) three, (ii) five and (iii) 10 years.

Jesse Norman: The Department does not routinely collect information on the proportion of customers of energy suppliers who are on a company’s standard variable tariff.The Department holds data on the proportion of each of the six large energy suppliers’ customers who were on standard variable tariffs in March 2016, but it does not hold information about the length of time customers have been on those tariffs.The information held by the department was provided by the regulator Ofgem pursuant to its statutory functions of providing advice, information and assistance to the Secretary of State on request (section 34(4) of the Gas Act 1986 and section 47(3) of the Electricity Act 1989). Insofar as the data relates to particular energy suppliers my department is restricted by section 105 of the Utilities Act 2000 from disclosing it except in accordance with that section.

Energy: Prices

Dr   Poulter: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what information his Department holds on how much commission (a) ComparetheMarket, (b) GoCompare, (c) MoneySupermarket, (d) uSwitch and (e) Confused earn per single and dual fuel energy switch.

Jesse Norman: The commission arrangements between price comparison websites and energy suppliers are commercial matters for the individual companies concerned. The Department does not hold information on how much commission these price comparison companies earn from energy suppliers per single and dual fuel energy switch.

Energy: Prices

Dr   Poulter: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what information his Department holds on whether (a) ComparetheMarket, (b) GoCompare, (c) MoneySupermarket, (d) uSwitch and (e) Confused charge different commissions to different energy suppliers.

Jesse Norman: The commission arrangements between price comparison websites and energy suppliers are commercial matters for the individual companies concerned. The Department does not hold information on whether these price comparison companies charge different rates of commission to different energy suppliers.

Fireworks

Royston Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of introducing (a) guidance on and (b) legislative proposals for making mandatory noiseless fireworks at major public events in the interests of the safety of (i) live stock animals and (ii) people with post-traumatic stress syndrome.

Margot James: The Government recognises concerns about the use of noisy fireworks, particularly the potential distress caused to pets, livestock and the public, especially those with PTSD. That is why there is significant regulation in place covering their supply, storage, possession and use.For example, retailers are restricted to selling fireworks for limited periods around the four traditional occasions of November 5th, Diwali, New Year’s Eve and Chinese New Year, unless they have a valid licence specifically allowing all year round sales. There are curfews in place which limit the hours fireworks can be used. Furthermore, there is maximum noise level of 120 decibels on fireworks sold to the public, and local authorities have powers to deal with excessive firework noise.The Government continues to focus on the safe use of fireworks and reducing nuisance by encouraging industry, retailers and others to promote responsible use through guidance and public education. For example, the Health and Safety Executive publishes specific guidance on organising fireworks displays safely and responsibly.We urge those using fireworks to be considerate to their neighbours and give sufficient notice of firework use, particularly where they are proposing to let off fireworks in the vicinity of animals, especially livestock, where they should notify owners of livestock nearby of their plans.The Government has no plans to extend legislation in this area at present.

Fracking: Health Hazards

Margaret Ferrier: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his Department's policies in England of the conclusions of the report of Health Protection Scotland, entitled A Health Impact Assessment of Unconventional Oil and Gas in Scotland, published on 8 November 2016.

Jesse Norman: Health Protection Scotland’s report[1] highlights some of the potential hazards associated with unconventional gas and oil extraction but, in line with Public Health England’s report in 2014[2], it finds that risks can be mitigated by adopting a range of precautionary measures involving operational best practice, regulatory frameworks and community engagement. [1] http://www.hps.scot.nhs.uk/enviro/unconventionalgas.aspx[2] http://www.hpa.org.uk/Publications/Environment/PHECRCEReportSeries/PHECRCE009/

Housing: Energy

Peter Aldous: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what plans the Government has to increase the uptake of energy efficiency measures in non-fuel poor households.

Peter Aldous: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the remaining potential carbon emission savings from residential buildings.

Peter Aldous: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether the Government plans to introduce minimum performance regulation to increase the energy efficiency of housing stock.

Jesse Norman: Reducing emissions in relation to residential buildings will be a key part of meeting the carbon budgets we have set. We will set out how we intend to address this in our emissions reduction plan. The Government has already introduced a number of provisions to drive energy efficiency improvements in both domestic and non-domestic privately rented property through the Energy Efficiency (Private Rented Property) (England and Wales) Regulations 2015. Landlords will be required by law to have improved the energy efficiency rating of the properties they let to at least an EPC E from April 2018. We are considering a broad range of options for implementation and will publish further guidance to assist landlords and to support enforcement authorities in due course. In addition, we are rolling out smart meters across homes and businesses in Great Britain which will help consumers to understand and take control of their energy use. We have also commissioned an independent review into consumer advice, protection, standards and enforcement for home energy efficiency and renewable energy measures which will be published in due course.

Death: Weather

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how much his Department has spent to limit excess winter deaths in each of the last five years.

Jesse Norman: Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Electricity Generation

Nic Dakin: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate he has made of the likely proportion of capacity that diesel generation could make up in the Capacity Market T-4 auction in winter 2016-17; and if he will make a statement.

Nic Dakin: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate he has made of the likely amount of investment in new large-scale gas power stations that will be delivered through the Capacity Market T-4 auction in winter 2016-17; and if he will make a statement.

Jesse Norman: Updated prequalification results for the 2016 four-year ahead Capacity Market auction have been published on the Electricity Market Reform Delivery Body’s website[1]. Nearly twenty per cent of the pre-qualified capacity is new-build, and around two thirds of this is from combined cycle gas turbines (CCGTs). Up to 1GW of diesel engines (existing and new) have also prequalified. The competitive nature of the auction means it is difficult to predict the specific technologies and projects that will win agreements.On 16th November 2016, the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs published a consultation on reducing emissions from Medium Combustion Plant and Generators to improve air quality[2] – the proposed limits on emissions of nitrogen oxides will apply from 1 January 2019 to any new build generator in scope of the legislation and winning an agreement in this year’s Capacity Market auction. [1] https://www.emrdeliverybody.com/CM/prequalification.aspx[2] https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/improving-air-quality-reducing-emissions-from-medium-combustion-plants-and-generators

Energy: Meters

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many people were on pre-payment meters in each of the last five years.

Jesse Norman: Ofgem monitors and publishes information on prepayment meters customer accounts in Great Britain; it does not monitor the gas and electricity supply market in Northern Ireland, as this is a devolved matter. The table below shows either the number or proportion of domestic customers paying by prepayment meters in Great Britain in 2011 to 2015. 201120122013 No. of PPMs customersProportion of PPMs customersNo. of PPMs customersProportion of PPMs customersNo. of PPMs customersProportion of PPMs customersGas2,912,662-3,099,245-3,282,080-Electricity4,094,890-4,256,065-4,422,504-  20142015 No. of PPMs customersProportion of PPMs customersNo. of PPMs customersProportion of PPMs customersGas3,399,15815%-15.3%Electricity4,496,18117%-16.6%

Post Offices

Gill Furniss: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the timetable is for the publication of the Post Office Network Report for 2016 pursuant to section 11 of the Postal Services Act 2011.

Margot James: There is no set timetable for the publication of the annual Post Office Network report each year. Pursuant to section 11(6) of the Postal Services Act 2011, my Rt Hon Friend the Secretary of State expects to lay the 2015/16 report in Parliament shortly. Once laid the Post Office will publish the report on its website.

Low Pay

Richard Burden: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, when he plans to respond to the recommendations by the Low Pay Commission made in the National Minimum Wage: Low Pay Commission Report, Spring 2016, published in March 2016.

Margot James: The Government published its response accepting all the Low Pay Commission’s rate recommendations on 14 March 2016.The Government is considering the Low Pay Commission’s non-rate recommendations. On the recommendation relating to a formal public protocol to handle third party whistleblowing on breaches of the National Minimum Wage, a trial is underway involving Citizens Advice Bureaux acting as a third party on behalf of complainants. The trial will be evaluated before a decision is taken on any wider roll-out.

Accountancy: EU Law

Debbie Abrahams: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what plans he has to transpose the EU Non-Financial Reporting Directive into UK Law.

Margot James: The Non-Financial Reporting Directive[1] will be brought into force by The Companies, Partnerships and Groups (Accounts and Non-Financial Reporting) Regulations 2016 in time for the financial year commencing on or after 1 January 2017. The Regulations were laid in both Houses on 7 November 2016. Transposition will meet the minimum requirements of the Directive which is the Government’s preferred approach to EU implementation.The implementation of the Regulations will be supported by the Financial Reporting Council’s Guidance on the Strategic Report and guidance from the Financial Conduct Authority. Further detail on the transposition of the Directive is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/non-financial-reporting-directive-uk-implementation [1] Directive 2014/95/EU on disclosure of non-financial and diversity information by certain large undertakings and groups.

Business Premises: Energy

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what plans his Department has to improve the energy efficiency of non-domestic premises.

Jesse Norman: This government has a range of policies to improve the energy efficiency of non-domestic premises including policies to ensure organisations understand their energy use and how they can save money on their energy bills. Such policies include the Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme, incentives to invest in energy efficient technologies such as Enhanced Capital Allowances, access to finance for public sector buildings through Salix and the use of minimum standards for new and refurbished non-domestic buildings and those in the private rented sector.

Post Offices: Franchises

Gill Furniss: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how much has been spent since January 2010 from the public purse on refurbishment of Crown post offices which are proposed to be franchised in July 2016.

Gill Furniss: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many responses the Post Office has received to its consultation on proposals to franchise Crown post office branches since January 2014; and how many of those responses were opposed to those proposals.

Gill Furniss: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many Crown post offices which the Post Office is proposing to franchise in 2016 are in (a) urban deprived, (b) urban and (c) rural areas.

Gill Furniss: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how much has been spent since January 2010 from the public purse on each of the branches which the Post Office has announced will be franchised in 2016.

Margot James: The operation and franchising of its Crown post offices is the responsibility of Post Office Limited. I have asked Paula Vennells, the Chief Executive of Post Office Limited, to write to the Hon Member on this matter and provide the information requested. A copy of her reply will be placed in the libraries of the House.

Department of Health

NHS: Sick Leave

Mr Mark Hendrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to his Answer of 4 November 2016 to Question 50657, if his Department will collect centrally information on the cost of staff sickness to the NHS due to (a) hip arthroscopy and (b) other medical treatments not being provided by clinical commissioning groups.

Mr Philip Dunne: It is not the role of the Department to collect data on the cost of sickness absence to the National Health Service due to hip arthroscopy and other medical treatments not being provided by clinical commissioning groups. The Department keeps NHS data collection requirements to a minimum, enabling trusts to concentrate their resources on improving the health and wellbeing of their staff and patients. Trusts, which are responsible for managing their staff sickness absence costs, should maintain comprehensive sickness absence records and, as indicated in my answer of 4 November to Question 50657, from this information, tailor the health and wellbeing support they provide their workforce to meet staff needs and help keep them at work.

Health Services: Expenditure

Mr Geoffrey Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he has taken to reduce health spending inequalities between (a) the UK and other European countries and (b) UK health authority districts.

Mr Philip Dunne: Based on the latest internationally comparable Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) data, total health spending in the United Kingdom, as set out by the OECD for 2014 (published 30 June 2016), and which includes public (Government) and private spend, is at 9.9% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), above the OECD average1 of 9.0% and the EU-15 average of 9.8%. Reducing health spending inequalities is part of the core formula that is used to determine the funding that is allocated to clinical commissioning groups (CCGs), which are the equivalent of UK health authority districts in England. Responsibility for CCG allocations rests with NHS England. NHS England also has a duty to reduce health inequalities. The formula includes an adjustment for unmet need and health inequalities, which has been refined for 2016-17 to 2020-21 allocations. The unmet need and health inequalities adjustment continues to be based on the standardised mortality ratio for those aged under 75 years. The latest data has been used and the adjustment refined to give a higher weight per head to the areas with the worst standardised mortality ratio for those aged under 75 years and to be based on the size of each CCG’s registered lists in place of Office for National Statistics populations, on which it was previously based. NHS England has published a technical guide to allocations which sets out all the individual factors used in determining the allocation levels. The guide is available here: https://www.england.nhs.uk/2016/04/allocations-tech-guide-16-17/# Funding for other parts of the UK is a matter for the devolved administrations. Note:1The reported averages reflect the simple average of countries’ figures without weighting that for population or GDP of the respective countries.

Nurses: Training

Jeremy Lefroy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what his Department's national three-to-five strategy is for supporting the training and development of advanced paediatric and neonatal nurse practitioners, to enable skilled acute care for infants, children and young people close to home.

Mr Philip Dunne: The Department does not have a dedicated three to five strategy for supporting the training and development of advanced paediatric and neonatal nurse practitioners. It is Health Education England’s (HEE) responsibility to ensure that there is sufficient future supply of staff, including those needed in specialist fields such as this, to meet the workforce requirements of the English health system. As part of its ongoing work HEE continually looks to ensure that staff groups, such as those highlighted, have the correct planned workforce growth, consider whether new roles are required and ensure that existing undergraduate training and education meets the needs of both students and patients. At a local level, it is the responsibility of National Health Service organisations to ensure that their staff, through Continuing Professional Development, have the ongoing skills required to deliver safe and effective care to patients.

Circle Holdings

Clive Efford: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what advice NHS England gave to Greenwich Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) in the contracting process for musculoskeletal services in Greenwich on (a) ensuring that the CCG followed the correct procedures, (b) ensuring that the CCG was quorate at the time that it decided to let the contract, (c) advising the CCG whether companies should be invited to bid and (d) ensuring that the CCG had carried out a full impact assessment on other NHS services; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Philip Dunne: NHS England has a statutory responsibility to carry out an annual assessment of a clinical commissioning group’s (CCG) delivery of its statutory duties. In addition, it has an ongoing assurance and oversight role through which it checks whether CCGs are delivering improvements in care in the best interests of residents and in line with the principles in the NHS Constitution. In respect of the contracting for musculoskeletal services (MSK) in Greenwich, NHS England has advised that it carried out an assessment of the procurement process that Greenwich CCG followed in order to secure a new provider of integrated MSK services. This assessment was designed to make sure that the CCG had followed an appropriate procurement process, that the scope of the procurement was clear, that the CCG was commissioning a service that met expected quality standards, that the CCG was managing any possible conflicts of interest, and that any statutory and accounting issues and risks were fully understood and mitigated. We are advised that NHS England wrote to the CCG on 22 July 2016 to confirm that it was satisfied that the procurement had followed due process and identified the risk and implications for the existing provider.

Circle Holdings

Clive Efford: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 20 October 2016 to Question 48889, whether it is standard NHS procurement procedures to allow clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) to double count members who are present as delegated substitutes for members that were absent in order to achieve a quorum when voting to grant multi million pound contracts; on how many occasions CCGs have acted in such a manner; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Philip Dunne: The Governing Body of Greenwich Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) met on 29 June to consider the outcome of the assessment panels which had looked at the bids for the musculoskeletal services contract referred to in Question 48889. Three general practitioners present believed that they had conflicts of interest and therefore delegated their votes to other members of the Governing Body. The CCG assured NHS England that this delegation is in line with its Constitution and compliant with statutory guidance on management of conflicts of interest. Information on how many times CCGs have acted in this way in order to manage potential conflicts of interest is not collected or held centrally.

Heart Diseases: Health Services

Mark Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the NHS new congenital heart disease review, how many hospitals in England and Wales meet each of the Government's recommended standards for congenital heart disease services.

Mr Philip Dunne: NHS England assessed the 13 hospitals that provide level 1 surgical congenital heart disease (CHD) services against 14 requirements, most of which encompassed more than one of the standards. It also assessed nine hospitals that provide level 2 specialist medical CHD centres against seven requirements. Most of these requirements encompassed more than one of the standards, therefore the tables attached show the number of hospitals that met each of the requirements at the time of NHS England’s assessment rather than each of the standards. NHS England’s proposals for service change considered not only whether a hospital met the requirements at the time of the assessment but also whether it would be able to meet the requirements in the future. It is at those hospitals where NHS England considered that it was unlikely that the requirements would be met in the timescale required that proposals for change have been made. Hospitals in Wales are a matter for the devolved administration in Wales.



PQ52347 Mark Field Hosps and standards tables
(Word Document, 24.84 KB)

NHS Protect

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many times NHS Protect has taken (a) disciplinary proceedings and (b) civil proceedings against NHS staff for issues relating to fraud and corruption since 2009-10.

Mr Philip Dunne: NHS Protect does not take disciplinary proceedings against National Health Service staff. Where a disciplinary matter is identified, NHS Protect will refer this to the relevant health body or regulator for their action. Information on disciplinary referrals and civil proceedings is shown in the following table. PeriodDisciplinary ReferralsNHS Protect Civil Proceedings2009-107262010-117262011-122842012-132312013-14612014-15632015-161312016 - October 201691 Notes:In April 2011, NHS Protect became the operating name for the NHS Counter Fraud and Security Management Service. The information provided for 2009-10 and 2010-11 relates to action taken by the NHS Counter Fraud and Security Management Service.Fraud investigations can span different financial years and, in the case of serious and complex investigations, multiple years. Figures provided are therefore drawn from disciplinary referrals and civil proceedings against NHS staff that are completed and closed within each financial year.

Pharmacy: Registration

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether he has made an assessment of the way in which the General Pharmaceutical Council sets and administers the final registration examination for pharmacists; and whether he has received any representations on proposed changes to those examinations and on how those changes might cap the numbers entering the register.

Mr Philip Dunne: The General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) is the independent body responsible for the regulation of pharmacists, pharmacy technicians and pharmacy premises in Great Britain. It is responsible for the way it discharges its statutory duties including in relation to the registration assessment for pre-registration trainee pharmacists. Accordingly, the Department has not made any assessment, nor has it received representations on the way the GPhC sets and administers its examinations and the proposed changes to those examinations.

Death: Weather

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much his Department has spent to limit excess winter deaths in each of the last five years.

Mr Philip Dunne: No single figure can identify the funding available for limiting excess winter deaths, much of the work of the National Health Service and Public Health England (PHE) contributes to ensuring the wellbeing of the most vulnerable. The Stay Well This Winter campaign aims to ease winter pressures on the NHS by, for example, encouraging at-risk groups to adopt behaviours that will help them to stay well – e.g. getting the flu vaccine, getting advice at the first sign of respiratory illness. Stay Well This Winter is delivered in partnership between NHS England and PHE. The campaign is now in its second year and will play a role in limiting excess winter deaths. PHE funds the first phase of Stay Well This Winter which encourages uptake of the flu vaccine amongst priority groups. The table below shows the media spend for flu for last five years and winter for the last three years.  MillionsMillionsMillionsMillionsMillions 2011/122012/132013/142014/152015/16Flu Immunisation£0.06£0.47£0.48£1.14£0.89Winter Campaign--£2.99£2.49£3.64 PHE is also responsible for expenditure on certain elements of the annual flu immunisation programme which reduces winter deaths through the prevention of flu. The most significant expenditure is the procurement of vaccine for the children’s flu immunisation programme (general practitioners purchase flu vaccine directly from vaccine suppliers for the other elements of the programme). The cost PHE pays for the vaccine is commercially sensitive and cannot be provided as it is likely to prejudice the commercial interests of the vaccine supplier. In addition, PHE has a direct spend of approximately £50,000 per annum to coordinate and implement the Cold Weather Plan for England. This pays for the Cold Weather Alert service provided by the Meteorological Office, design and publication costs of the plan and the supporting documents, and an annual stakeholder seminar to share new evidence and best practice. The Department also spent £250,000 on independently evaluating the Cold Weather Plan between 2012-14. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published guidance in March 2015 on ‘Excess winter deaths and illness and the health risks associated with cold homes’, which was funded from NICE’s core funding from the Department.

Department of Health: Brexit

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many officials work in his Department's Exiting the EU team.

David Mowat: The Department for Exiting the European Union has responsibility for overseeing preparations for the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union and conducting the withdrawal negotiations in support of the Prime Minister. In doing this it is working closely with other Government departments including the Department of Health. All policy teams within the Department are involved with this work and assessing the implications of the UK leaving the EU on their area. A central team is responsible for coordinating the work.

WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control

Mr Christopher Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 14 November 2016 to Question 52127, on the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, which countries are receiving direct country support; what the cost to the Exchequer is of that support; and which countries meet the criterion of being low and middle income countries for the purposes of training and guidance.

Nicola Blackwood: Further to the Answer of 14 November 2016 to Question 52127, planning is now underway for the delivery of support to low- and middle-income countries to implement the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. The Government will contribute £15 million between 2016/17 and 2020/21 via the Secretariat of the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control to provide this support.Only those countries that have ratified the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control and are listed by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development as being eligible to receive Official Development Assistance will be eligible to receive support through this project. The process of selecting countries to receive direct support will be undertaken over the next six months.

Accident and Emergency Departments

Mr Christopher Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 14 November 2016 to Question 52428, for what reason there is no information given in that Answer on the proportion of patients being referred to hospital emergency departments by South West Ambulance and ambulance services in London and North West England; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Philip Dunne: Information about the proportion of patients attended to by ambulances which are referred to emergency departments is not collected centrally. However, NHS England does publish monthly information on the number of transported incidents. The number of transported incidents does not equal the number of patients involved as one incident with two or more patients transported is counted as one incident. From April 2013, only incidents with a patient journey to Type 1 or Type 2 accident and emergency (A&E) are included. Data on the number of transported incidents can be found at: https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/ambulance-quality-indicators/ The following table sets out data for the three ambulance trusts in question for 2015/16. Number of Transported IncidentsFinancial yearSouth Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation TrustLondon Ambulance Service NHS TrustNorth West Ambulance Service NHS Trust2015-16 Total393,305777,735700,640 Source: NHS England, Ambulance Systems Indicators Time Series to August 2016, published at: https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/ambulance-quality-indicators/ Notes:1. ‘Transported incidents’ were previously described as ‘Emergency Journeys’. From April 2013, only incidents with a patient journey to Type 1 or Type 2 A&E are included, and one incident with two or more patients transported is counted as one incident.2. Type 1 A&E refers to consultant-led 24-hour department with full resuscitation facilities and designated accommodation for the reception of A&E patients.3. Type 2 A&E refers to consultant-led single specialty services (e.g. ophthalmology, dental) with designated accommodation for the reception of patients.

Hospitals and Care Homes

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many (a) hospitals and (b) care homes inspected by the Care Quality Commission in each of the last six years did not meet the requirements set out in Regulation 14 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014.

Mr Philip Dunne: The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has advised that it is unable to provide a response to this Parliamentary Question due to disproportionate cost. The information requested is held within the CQC. However due to the way the data is recorded, collating a response to the question and going through the CQC’s additional verification processes which must be undertaken to ensure the response is robust and accurate would incur disproportionate cost.

NHS: Industrial Health and Safety

Debbie Abrahams: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many NHS staff have (a) taken medical severance, (b) taken early retirement on health grounds and (c) been redeployed due to work-related injury or illness in each of the last five years.

Mr Philip Dunne: The table below shows the number (headcount) of National Health Service staff who have taken ill health retirement in each of the last five years.  2011-122012-132013-142014-152015-16Retirement – Ill health1,4101,3341,2101,2571,384 There is no separate process for “medical severance” in the NHS. Staff only have access to ill health retirement. Information on NHS staff who have been redeployed due to work-related injury or illness is not collected centrally. Source: Provisional NHS Hospital and Community Health Service monthly workforce statistics, NHS Digital.

Hospital Beds: West Sussex

Sir Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many delayed transfers of care there have been in West Sussex in each of the last three years; what steps he is taking to reduce the number of such transfers; and if he will make a statement.

David Mowat: NHS England publishes monthly data on the number of delayed days for all patients ready for transfer but still occupying a hospital bed during the month. The information is shown in the following table for residents of West Sussex County Council in the last three full financial years. Number of delayed transfer of care days experienced by residents of West Sussex, 2013-14 to 2015-16YearNumber of delayed days2013-1430,4172014-1528,5562015-1635,611 The Department is working closely with NHS England, NHS Improvement and local government to support local areas to reduce delayed transfers of care. This includes nationally mandated interventions to support discharge processes and patient flow during the winter months.

Department of Health: Advertising

Stephen Doughty: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much his Department has spent on advertising in each of the last six years in (a) The Sunday Times, (b) The Times, (c) The Mail on Sunday, (d) The Sun, (e) The Sun on Sunday, (f) The Huffington Post, (g) Mail Online, (h) Daily Mail, (i) The Guardian and (j) Trinity Mirror.

David Mowat: The Department can confirm following a detailed search of its Business Management Services database that none of these media are registered as suppliers and consequently there is no advertising expenditure held for all the financial years covering 2010-11 to 2015-16 latest available.

Malnutrition

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 20 July 2016 to Question 42560, if he will provide the figures in that Answer by each (a) English region and (b) parliamentary constituency.

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many bed days in hospitals were for people with (a) a primary diagnosis for malnutrition and (b) a secondary diagnosis of malnutrition in each of the last 10 years.

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate his Department has made of the (a) number and (b) proportion of care home residents who are malnourished; what steps his Department is taking to improve nutrition in care homes; and if he will make a statement.

Nicola Blackwood: Malnutrition can be caused by a variety of factors, including an inability to absorb nutrients normally, or a condition or disease which affects a patient’s ability to feed normally. The number of bed days in hospitals for a primary diagnosis of malnutrition and a secondary diagnosis of malnutrition in each of the last 10 years is presented in the following table however the cause of the malnutrition is not presented in these figures and it not possible to make assumptions on which factor was responsible for the admission. YearPrimary DiagnosisSecondary Diagnosis2006-076,70458,3442007-087,69557,0522008-098,28169,3402009-1010,73285,0622010-1111,258103,1032011-1213,013115,3482012-1314,354126,2822013-1413,427143,5002014-1514,867152,2302015-1617,166167,362 The information requested pursuant to the Answer of 20 July 2016 to Question 42560, requesting provision of the figures in that Answer by each English region and parliamentary constituency is not held in the format requested. The Department does not hold any data on the number and the proportion of care home residents who are malnourished. In 2014 the Government updated the requirements of regulation with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to provide greater clarity about how the nutritional needs should be met. The CQC can prosecute for a breach of this regulation if a failure to meet the regulation results in avoidable harm to a person using the service, or a person using the service is exposed to significant risk of harm.

Cancer: Drugs

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much remains in the budget of the Cancer Drugs Fund; and how the monies available to that Fund have been allocated.

Mr Philip Dunne: The 2016-17 budget for the Cancer Drugs Fund (CDF) is fixed at £340 million. NHS England has advised that, in order to ensure the Fund does not exceed this budget, a new expenditure control mechanism has been put in place as part of the wider reforms to the Fund which went live on 29 July 2016. The updated standard operating procedure for the new CDF as set out in ‘Appraisal and Funding of Cancer Drugs Fund from July 2016 (including the new Cancer Drugs Fund)’ explained that the following is chargeable against the Fund in 2016-17: - Drug indications in receipt of interim funding;- CDF managed access agreements;- Off-label drug indications approved for funding from the Fund;- The administrative cost of the CDF (capped at 2% of the fixed £340 million budget in 2016-17);- Individual funding requests approved for cancer drugs up to 31 July 2016;- Existing CDF drug/indications awaiting reconsideration or appraisal by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE);- Drug indications removed from the CDF due to previous reprioritisation exercises or due to NICE/NHS England decisions in so far as they relate to patients who commenced treatment prior to their removal and who remain on treatment; and- The cost of the previous CDF for the period from 1 April 2016 to 28 July 2016 when the new arrangements for the Fund were introduced. NHS England has committed to publishing a non-binding forecast for the 2016-17 outturn position in December 2016 and quarterly updates from 2017-18.

Women and Equalities

Government Equalities Office: Pay

Catherine West: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what proportion of women are employed by the Government Equalities Office on a London pay structure in the following pay grades (a) Administrative Assistant, (b) Administrative Officer, (c) Executive Officer, (d) Higher Executive Officer, (e) Fast Streamer, (f) Senior Executive Officer, (g) Grade Seven, (h) Grade Six, (i) Senior Civil Service Band 1, (j) Senior Civil Service Band 1A, (k) Senior Civil Service Band 2 and (l) Senior Civil Service Band 3.

Caroline Dinenage: The number of staff employed by the Department for Education (DfE) and the Government Equalities Office (GEO) in the grades listed above are shown in the table below. The table provides information on the total number of women on Civil Service grades in DfE and GEO and the proportion of them that are paid salaries on the London paybands at each grade. DfE has staff working in a number of regional offices across England. These are included in the totals shown in the table, but are not broken down separately.These numbers are based on DfE payroll records and therefore exclude staff joining the department via recent Machinery of Government changes (Higher and Further Education/Skills Funding Agency) as these have yet to transfer onto these systems. Proportion of all women in the DfE/GEO who are in London paybands at the following gradesGrades1) DfE2) GEOTotal number of women employed (London and National paybands)226435EA AO (equivalent to AO)1%-EO10%6%HEO9%6%SEO7%3%GRADE 711%11%GRADE 66%0%SCS Band 12%6%SCS Band 1A0%-SCS Band 21%3%SCS Band 30%-